Amit Shah all set to visit Odisha in April

BHUBANESWAR: After the Bijepur Assembly bypoll debacle, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national president Amit Shah is all set to visit Odisha early next month apparently to galvanize the morale of party workers. BJP’s state unit president Basant Panda on Tuesday informed that the details related to Mr Shah’s visit would be finalised soon.

The BJP president’s visit to the state will be confined to western Odisha districts, Mr Panda said. “We have requested him to visit the state and organise public meetings in Sambalpur, Kalahandi, Sundargarh, Bolangir and Sonepur,” said Panda. Though the exact dates are yet to be finalised, sources said Mr Shah will come to Odisha on a two-day tour on April 4 to hold public meetings.

In Bijepur assembly seat in Bargarh district, the saffron party candidate Ashok Panigrahi lost to the BJD’s Rita Sahu by a margin of over 42,000 votes. The BJP had taken up the Bijepur bypoll very aggressively. It had landed half-a-dozen Union ministers in the campaigning. Since the BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik showcasing the victory as Odisha people’s rejection of BJP’s “ideology,” the saffron party has decided to rebuild its strength in the state for a effective fight-back,  said a party functionary.