PM to campaign in Odisha twice in April first week

With electioneering for the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha gaining momentum, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to visit the state twice in the first week of April, party sources said Sunday.

The prime minister is scheduled to address a public meeting at Bhawanipatna, the district headquarters town of Kalahandi in western Odisha on April 2, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said.

He is slated to visit Odisha again to address an election meeting in Sundargarh on April 6, he said.

The Sundargarh rally will be Modis third poll meeting in Odisha in less than ten days as he had kicked off BJP's election campaign in the state from Jeypore town in Koraput district on March 29.

Oram said the back-to-back visits of Modi, who is likely to highlight several development and welfare schemes being implemented by the Centre, will go a long way in bringing a wave in favour of BJP in the state.

While Kalahandi is among the four Lok Sabha seats where the first phase of polling will be held on April 11, voting in Sundargarh parliamentary constituency is scheduled to be beld in the second phase on April 18.

BJP has set a target to win at least 120 of the 147 assembly seats in Odisha.

Party president Amit Shah is also scheduled to visit the state on Monday and address two meetings at Parlakhemundi in Gajapati district and Umarkote in Nabarangpur district, a party leader said.

In the 2014, BJP had won one of the 21 Lok Sabha and 10 of the 147 assembly seats in Odisha.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati is slated to undertake a visit to the state on April 2 to address a poll rally in Bhubaneswar.