Puri: Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw arrived in the pilgrim town of Puri on Thursday to attend the Odisha BJP’s three-day training programme, which kicked off in Puri on Tuesday with the focus on preparing the road map for the 2024 general election.
According to sources, he will hold discussions with party leaders over various developmental welfare schemes and policies and also throw light on Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.
Ahead of the rousing welcome at the training camp, Ashwini visited Jagannath Temple and had darshan of the sibling deities. He also visited Birapratappur and reviewed public grievances, sources said.
The concluding day will see national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh outlining the roadmap to the 2024 elections. He will also highlight the BJP’s contribution to the development of the country.
Speaking to the media, BJP leader Golak Mohapatra said that strategies are being discussed to reach out to voters and apprise them about the governance models of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre. “The popularity of BJD fading and buying awards would not help it to win the trust of people. The BJP is strengthening its apparatus at the booth and organisation levels. It will also expose the corrupt practices of the Naveen Patnaik-led government and how it has been hijacking all the central government schemes,” he said.
State BJP in charge, all MLAs and MPs, party functionaries, general secretaries, vice-presidents, district presidents, and all the candidates for the 2019 general election are expected to remain present.
On Wednesday, a host of important issues relating to party ideology, national security and the achievements of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre were discussed threadbare with the focus on winning at least 120 of the 147 assembly seats in the next elections in Odisha. Senior party leader and Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari exuded confidence that BJP will also win at least 16 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
On the first day, party MP and former Union Minister Jual Oram said: “BJD will be ‘thrown to the Bay of Bengal after the next election.”
