BHUBANESWAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming on a day’s visit to Odisha on May 26 to celebrate successful completion of his Government’s fourth year at the Centre. Announcing the Prime Minister’s visit, national general secretary of BJP Arun Singh said the PM wants to share his Government’s achievements in the last four years with the people of the State. “The BJP led NDA Government will complete fourth year in office on May 26.
The Prime Minister has decided to visit all States and he chose Odisha first for the occasion,” Singh told reporters on his arrival here on Saturday. The Prime Minister will address a massive public meeting at Cuttack to speak on his Government’s achievement in the last four years, he added. Claiming that Odisha is a focus State in the Prime Minister’s development agenda, Singh said that was precisely the reason for which Modi has chosen the State to experiment his pro-poor initiatives.
While Modi had started his campaign before 2014 general election after visiting Jagannath temple at Puri, he has made several visits to the State in the last four years due to his love for the people of Odisha, Singh said. On BJP president Amit Shah’s ‘Mission 120’ for Odisha, Singh said, “The party is confident of achieving the target (of wining more than 120 seats) and there is no doubt about it.” Responding to a query on the BJD’s public awareness campaign on saving Mahanadi, Singh said the ruling party is trying to cover up its failure by diverting the attention of the people.
The Prime Minister last visited the State in April 2017 to attend the BJP’s national executive committee meeting in the city. His first visit to the State after becoming Prime Minister was in April 2015 when he visited Rourkela to dedicate the 4.5 million ton expanded unit of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to the nation. Modi visited the State thrice in 2016.
While he inaugurated the oil refinery project of Indian Oil Corporation Limited at Paradip on February 7, the PM addressed a farmers’ rally at Bargarh on February 21. On completion of two years of the NDA Government, he had addressed a public meeting at Balasore on June 2, 2016. The PM’s proposed visit was discussed at a meeting of the BJP’s state office-bearers followed by the meeting of the party’s state executive committee.