Modi, Shah seal dates for Odisha visit

Bhubaneswar: The defeat in the recently-concluded assembly elections in the hindi-heartland seems to have taken the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by surprise and the party seems to be in no mood to take any chances on its 'look-east' policy.

Continuing its focus on eastern states like Odisha and West Benagal, the star campaigners of BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself and party's national president Amit Shah, are all set to visit Odisha this month. Modi, who had already visited the State on January 5, will visit again on January 15 while Shah is scheduled to meet party workers in Odisha on January 18.

As per the official itinerary, Modi will reach Jharsuguda airport at 9:30 AM on January 15 and then go to Bolangir in a chopper. He will inaugurate and lay foundation stones of several projects. Later, he will address a public meeting at Patharachepa at around 11:45 AM, which is expected to last for 45 minutes.

On January 18, Shah will visit Odisha and attend a state-level workers' meeting at Kulia RMC ground in Cuttack. Thousands of party workers from Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur districts are expected to join the meeting.

Moreover, if reports are to be believed, many other star campaingners of the BJP will also visit the State in future as part of the party's strategy to hold more people-connect programmes to highlight the achievements of the Modi government.

While major political parties in the State like the BJD believe that Modi-Shah visits will have no impact, the Congress- after proving that Modi and Shah are no unbeatable geniuses - seems confident of turing the tide in its favor in Odisha.