SAMBALPUR: BJP’s state president Manmohan Samal on Sunday reviewed preparations for Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s scheduled visit to Sambalpur on March 22.
Samal chaired a preparatory meeting with local BJP leaders at the MCL guesthouse in Burla to review arrangements for Shah’s upcoming tour. The union minister is scheduled to visit Odisha for two days on March 22 and 23. He is expected to address a public meeting at Sambalpur on the first day.
Briefing the media, Samal said a tentative programme of the union home minister was discussed during the meeting. Ministers Rabi Naik and Mukesh Mahaling, MLAs of the region, office-bearers of the party and other leaders attended the meeting. “Though no specific target has been set by the party, we are expecting a turnout of more than 50,000 people at the public meeting which will be addressed by the union home minister,” he said.
As per the tentative plan, Shah will reach Jharsuguda on March 21 and stay at the MCL guesthouse in Burla. On March 22, he will visit Samaleswari temple in the morning and later lay foundation stones for a number of projects at the PHED ground before addressing the public gathering. Post lunch, Shah will proceed to Bhubaneswar as he has other programmes lined up at Puri and Jatni the next day.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Sambalpur MLA Jayanarayan Mishra set rumour mills buzzing about a rift in the party by saying that he wasn’t eligible to sit on the front row at the meeting.
Mishra, who chose to sit on the back row, said, “One should have the eligibility to sit at a certain place. The front rows were meant for the state president, general secretary, ministers and other office-bearers. I wasn’t eligible to sit there, so I chose a seat on the back row. Other MLAs were also sitting with me. There’s no point making a fuss about it.”
When questioned about the discussions at the meeting, Mishra responded, “You should ask that to the big leaders, not small people like me.”