Modi to address rally in Sambalpur on Mar 12

Odisha Sun Times Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Feb 20:

Narendra Modi, BJP's prime ministerial candidate, will address a public meeting in Sambalpur on March 12, state unit president Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo announced here on Thursday.

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The BJP Prime Ministerial candidate, it may be noted, had addressed what was effectively the first election rally in Odisha at the Baramunda ground here on February 11.

With the Modi wave sweeping the country, Odisha is being viewed by the BJP central leadership as a state where the party could make significant gains in the coming elections, sources in the state unit said.

Meanwhile, over 2,000 office bearers of the BJP's Odisha unit- down from the village level to the district level - have gathered at the party's state headquarters here to deliberate on the party's strategy for the forthcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls due anytime now.

The meeting, which is being held before the state election committee meeting scheduled for 5 pm in the afternoon today, is being attended by Arun Singh, the party's state in-charge besides senior state leaders.

Speaking to reporters, senior BJP leader and former minister Surama Padhi said the meeting of office bearers was aimed at preparing them to visit door to door and take Narendra Modi's message to every family in the state.

She said the party in Odisha intends to take Narendra Bhai's message to 30 lakh families in the state. She further said the party will take Modi's message to the masses on why despite being a resource rich state, Odisha remains the poorest state in the country. It would also highlight the misdeeds during the 14 year rule of Naveen Patnaik, she added.

On being asked if today's meeting of the state election committee will finalise candidates for the Lok Sabha and assembly seats, Padhi, a member of the committee, said candidates for some of the seats for both assembly and Lok Sabha elections could be finalized today.