Amit Shah to visit Odisha, to hold meetings on left-wing extremism

Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah is scheduled to pay a two-day visit to Odisha from Friday, during which he will attend official meetings.

Shah will reach the Biju Patnaik International Airport here at 10.40 pm on Friday and launch a national highway project the next day, officials said.

He is also slated to attend meetings on left-wing extremism and disaster management on Saturday. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to attend the meeting, they said.

There is, however, no official confirmation about a possible meeting between Shah and Patnaik.

But Shah is scheduled to attend a meeting at the airport lounge before leaving for the national capital on Saturday evening, the officials said but did not specify who would be present in it.

The union minister's sudden visit and his review meetings on left-wing extremism and disaster management assume significance as these will take place after the ruling BJD announced its support to the Delhi Ordinance Bill and its opposition to the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government.

Shah's visit to Odisha on June 17 was cancelled in view of the Biparjoy cyclone in Gujarat. He will go to the BJP state party office here during his two-day visit and hold a closed-door meeting with the party functionaries till 5 PM on Saturday.