BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday exuded confidence that party would win the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections in Odisha in 2019.
Mr. Shah, who was on a one-day visit to the State to take stock of the party’s poll preparedness, tweeted, “Addressed a meeting with Shakti Kendra in-charges and co-in-charges in Bhubaneswar (Odisha). With such energy and enthusiasm among @BJP4Odisha karyakartas, BJP is all set to sweep Odisha in 2019 under the leadership of PM Shri @narendramodi.”
Over 2,400 panchayat-level Shakti Kendra committee heads and their deputies had assembled here to hear him. Last year, Mr. Shah had given a call to party workers to work towards winning at least 120 of the 147 seats in the Assembly elections.
On the issue of the missing keys to the Ratnabhandar (treasure) of the Jagannath temple, the BJP president criticised the Naveen Patnaik government for failing to “safeguard the aspirations of Hindus”.
In five back-to-back closed-door meetings, Mr. Shah met senior party functionaries and grassroots workers of the Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Puri Lok Sabha constituencies.
“The party [BJP] has been making sustained preparation for elections. The party president noted down feedback. Leaders also got to know what is expected of them,” said Surama Padhi, former Minister and senior party leader.
Earlier, Mr. Shah was given a rousing welcome by BJP State president Basant Panda, Union Ministers Dharmendra Paradhan and Jual Oram, and scores of party workers on his arrival at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here.
