Narendra Modi to address NDA’s fourth anniversary fete in Cuttack

Venue choice part of BJP’s “Look East” plan.

Indian Prime Minister Narinder Modi speaks during the inauguration if the 330mw Kishenganga Hydel Project in Srinagar on May 19, 2018. Indian Kashmir came to a virtual standstill May 19 as separatist groups called for a shutdown to protest a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Muslim-majority region gripped by deadly new tensions and clashes with rival Pakistan. Shops shut and streets in the main city, Srinagar, were empty except for police and paramilitary patrols as authorities imposed maximum security for Modi's one-day visit. / AFP PHOTO / Tauseef MUSTAFA

Notwithstanding a setback in Karnataka, the BJP is set to push its “Look East” plan by celebrating the fourth anniversary of the Modi government in Cuttack on May 26.

Preparations are under way to organise a massive public meeting in the city to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Odisha BJP president Basanta Panda and party’s State in-charge Arun Singh inspected the preparations at the historic Bali Yatra grounds on Sunday.

After the BJP’s performance in Nagaland and Tripura, party president Amit Shah had said its golden era would begin only when it secured power in West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka and Kerala.

During his visits to the State earlier, Mr. Shah had said that the party would win more than 120 of the 147 Assembly seats in Odisha in the 2019 elections.

State BJP leaders have said Mr. Modi had chosen Cuttack to share his government’s achievements in the past four years, since Odisha was a focus State on the Prime Minister’s development agenda.