Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Odisha on December 24 and address a public meeting at Khurdha, nearly 30 km from here.
BJP Odisha in-charge Arun Singh informed this during the party’s padayatra in Nischintakoili in Cuttack on Thursday. The BJP has a set target of 120-plus seats in Odisha to form the next government in the state.
Presently, the saffron party has 10 members in the 147-member state Assembly.
This will be the second visit of the PM to the state in the past four months. On September 22, he had visited Odisha and addressed two public rallies at Talcher and Jharsuguda.
In the last 2014 Assembly elections, the BJP had got 18 per cent votes which increased to 33 per cent in 2017 rural polls, helping the saffron party to grab number two slot in state politics.
The Congress, on the other hand, finished third in the rural polls with just 18 per cent, nearly 6 per cent less than its 2014 Assembly elections vote share.
Sources said Congress president Rahul Gandhi will also visit the state for two days in the last week of December. He will address rallies in coastal, south and western Odisha during his visit to the state.
“Mr Gandhi is scheduled to arrive on a two-day visit to Odisha in the last week of this month. He will address two public meetings during his visit,” said OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik.
