Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Odisha's capital city of Bhubaneswar on Sunday night as part of BJP's election campaign for the first phase of polls to be held on May 13. He will address two public meetings in South Odisha’s Berhampur and Nawarangpur Lok Sabha constituencies on Monday.
The Prime Minister's campaign is likely to indicate the turn the electoral battle may take in the state where the ruling Biju Janta Dal (BJD) and BJP lock horns.
Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be held in Odisha in four phases from May 13.
Both parties have always been on good terms because BJD has always supported the BJP on national issues. This also fueled speculation about an electoral alliance between the two parties. But, that did not happen.
The BJP has now drawn the battle lines with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda, during their Odisha visits, calling for a change of guard in the state. The duo sought the installation of a BJP government while urging the voters to give the party maximum Lok Sabha seats.
Even Prime Minister Modi, during a TV interview recently, had said 'Odisha’s pride' (Asmita) and Odia language were in danger. "I don’t think Odisha’s people will tolerate it for long," he said. "The BJD used to support us on many issues like many other parties which give us issue-based support. Our relations with the BJD in the state are different. In such a situation, we deserve a chance to serve Odisha. If we get elected, the BJP will take Odisha to the peak of development," said the Prime Minister.
He added Odisha could become the richest state in the country with abundant resources.
While the Prime Minister and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were always friendly - Modi has never spoken anything against the BJD supremo - but the start of the poll process has changed equations. Ever since the alliance failed to materialise, both parties have blamed each other on several issues.
Spotlight on
Berhampur, Nawarangpur
According to Odisha BJP leaders, both Modi and Nadda are coming to Odisha on Sunday separately. While Nadda will dedicate the party’s 'Sankalpa Patra' to the people of the state, the PM will address the party’s Vijay Sankalpa rallies at Berhampur and Nawarangpur towns.
In 2019, the BJD won both Lok Sabha seats. Berhampur is a general constituency in Chief Minister Patnaik’s Ganjam district, where his Hinjli assembly segment lies.
The saffron party has fielded former BJD minister Pradip Panigrahy as its candidate for the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat. A former confidant of Patnaik, Panigrahy was Gopalpur MLA but was arrested by the state vigilance on an alleged corruption case in 2020, an incident that soured his relations with the BJD. Panigrahy alleges the case was a political conspiracy. He switched sides to the BJP before the elections, following which he was made the BJP candidate for Gopalpur.
The BJD has fielded Bhrigu Buxipatra against Panigrahy as its Lok Sabha candidate for Berhampur. Buxipatra was a senior leader of the BJP and had been the party’s Lok Sabha candidate at Berhampur in 2019. He lost to BJD candidate Chandrasekhar Sahu, who was a former union minister at that time. Sahu failed to get a BJD ticket this time after he was made the chairman of the party’s manifesto committee
Nawarangpur is a reserved constituency for ST.
BJD supremo Patnaik on Saturday already addressed four election meetings in four south Odisha districts, Koraput, Nawarangpur, Raygada and Gajpati, covering three Lok Sabha constituencies of Koraput, Nawarangpur and Berhampur.
He sought people’s acknowledgement of his government’s welfare schemes like Biju Swasthya Bima Yojana (health insurance of state government), Kalia for farmers, Mamta Scheme, student scholarship, mission shakti, Laccmi bus to connect rural areas and heritage projects.
It was a unique style of brief interaction with people. He blamed the opposition for telling lies and shedding crocodile tears. Patnaik also sought support for BJD’s MP and MLA candidates who were present with him in the meetings.
Though the chief minister had launched BJD’s election campaign on April 24th at Sheragada, which falls under his Hinjli constituency in Ganjam district, it was Saturday meetings that marked the beginning of the state-wide election campaign.
As for the BJP, it is roping in Union Ministers and national leaders for the campaign, including External Affairs Minister S Jayshankar who had campaigned in the state on Saturday.
