Around 15,000 activists of the ruling BJD on Monday boarded seven special trains for New Delhi to attend the party’s Swabhiman Samabesha on Wednesday demanding special category status for Odisha.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and a few members of his Council of Ministers, Government Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip left for the national capital in flight while several ministers and party leaders boarded Rajdhani Express.
The BJD workers and activists boarded specially requisitioned trains from different parts of the state. The special trains started journey to Delhi from Puri, Cuttack, Bhadrakh, Berhampur, Koraput, Sambalpur and Rourkela.
“We will hold a meeting at Ramlila Maidan on Wednesday and meet the President and submit signature of above one crore people supporting our demand for special category status for Odisha,” Patnaik said before leaving the State Capital.
“I have never seen such enthusiasm among the party rank and file earlier. We will certainly achieve our goal,” BJD vice-president and Panchayati Raj Minister Kalpataru Das said.
Das told this paper that more than 3000 people from the State have already reached Delhi and he is expecting participation of about 30,000 people at the rally to be addressed by Patnaik and others. To make the event a success, some senior party leaders including a few Ministers have been camping in the national capital for some days to muster support of local Odias there.
Efforts are also on to bring Odias staying abroad to attend the rally, the sources said.