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Bhubaneswar: Aiming to repeat the success it achieved in the recent elections in Assam in the 2019 Assembly polls in Odisha, the BJP has lined up as many as seven Union ministers, who will visit various places in the state starting June 6 in an apparent move to keep the momentum generated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Balasore on Thursday going.
Party sources said Union minister for Steel and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar is scheduled to attend a rally in Rourkela on June 6.
Though the detailed schedule of the visit of the other six ministers is yet to be finalized, party sources said Union Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari will address a public meeting in Bhubaneswar while Union ministers Najma Heptulla, Manohar Parrikar, Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Santosh Gangwar and Prakash Javadekar will also address functions in Sambalpur, Cuttack, Berhampur, Bargarh and Puri respectively.
Though the frequent tours of Union ministers to Odisha is not new, political analysts feel the saffron party has set its sights on Odisha to regain the base it had ‘lost’ post the 2009 polls after its alliance with BJD broke. No less than 35 Union ministers have visited Odisha, some of them multiple times, during the two years of the Narendra Modi’s government. Besides, 18 members of Modi’s Cabinet have attended several programmes in the State. Modi himself has visited Odisha four times after being sworn-in as the Prime Minister of India, thrice during this year alone.
“Taking into account the anti-incumbency factor that is bound to affect the BJD at the end of its fourth successive term, there is plenty of scope for the BJP to grow in Odisha. Further, it can cash in on the multi-thousand crore chit fund scam in the State to which BJD leaders have been linked. Lastly, the Congress is on the wane as a political force in the state. This should give enough hope for BJP,” an analyst said.
But the BJD is not ready to buy the opinion.
“The people of Odisha know our party and they know their leader Naveen Patnaik very well. We are not at all worried about who is going and who is coming to Odisha and for what. The party is always with the people of Odisha and it will remain so,” BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb said.
It is important to note that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had questioned the performance of the Naveen Patnaik government at the Vikas Utsav rally in Balasore yesterday, even if in a rather sober tone. He had said it is only his party that can change the face of the State, which is characterised by nagging poverty despite abundant natural resources.
