Odisha BJP leaders to meet Amit Shah today

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar/ New Delhi, Mar 26:

Odisha BJP leaders are scheduled to meet the party’s National President Amit Shah today to work out the strategy for the state unit in the year 2015.

“The senior leaders of the party are going to meet Amit Shah Ji to discuss the roadmap for the party for the next one year,” said Odisha BJP President K V Singhdeo.

The meeting bears significance given the desperation of state unit leaders to go all guns blazing against BJD that rules the state and the soft approach that the national leadership of BJP appears to have taken towards BJD.

The meeting will also review the progress of the membership drive in the state, the condition of the grassroots organization in the state and the issues the party needs to highlight in the state, BJP sources said.

The focus of the meeting, however, will be the approach of the party towards BJD. While the state unit leaders have no love lost for the BJD in the state, the approach of its national leadership has been a big let down for them in the recent past. They cut a sorry figure when Amit Shah, during his visit to the state in January this year, refused to utter a word against BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Despite the soft approach of the national leadership, however, BJP state leaders are putting up a brave front.

“BJP and BJD have no relations. We are trying to work out a roadmap to come up as a political alternative to BJD in the state. We are going to Delhi to get inspiration from the national leadership on how to strengthen the party from the grassroots level till the state level,” said Basant Panda, leader of BJP in Odisha assembly.

“We are going to work on a roadmap to sharpen our attack on BJD in and out of assembly,” said BJP Odisha Spokesperson Suresh Pujari.

Earlier, the top leaders of the state unit had a Chintan Baithak (brainstorming session) to work out the blueprint of the strategy till the run up to 2019 polls.