BHUBANESWAR: Targeting Odisha for a big saffron push, BJP president Amit Shah has chalked out plans for his next visit to the State in June and August.
Shah’s proposed visit will be part of his contact programme with booth level workers of the party during his 95-day tour across the country, said Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram.
As per the programme, the first leg of Shah’s tour to the State will be from June 22 to 24 when he will spend three days with booth level BJP workers. The second phase of his visit will be for three days beginning August 8, Oram said adding, details of the tour programmes will be finalised.
Shah, who laid out plans for expansion of the BJP in States where the party’s presence is very weak in the just concluded national executive committee meeting here, had implored party leaders to reach out to party cadres by spending at least 15 days in polling booths and explaining them major programmes of the Modi Government in areas outside their home districts, said leader of the BJP legislature party KV Singhdeo.
Earlier, Shah had planned to visit the State in the first week of April. However, the programme had to be cancelled due to change of venue of the party’s national executive committee meeting from Lucknow to Bhubaneswar.
The programme to reach out to party cadres at booth level was planned by the BJP to mark the birth centenary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. The year-long celebration of the birth centenary of the party ideologue will end on September 23, 2017.
Since Shah renewed his party membership from Gopinathpur village in historic Dhauli gram panchayat near here in January, 2015, he will spend three nights at booth level in the State, Singhdeo said.
As many as 2,470 party workers from across the country would spend a year visiting polling booths, another 1,441 workers would spend six months and 3,78,000 workers will spend 15 days to reach out to party cadres.Singhdeo said the BJP ministers and MPs have also been directed to visit each parliamentary constituency under the public contact programme.