Senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke about his emotional connect with Odisha

Nabarangpur:22/2/24: Senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke about his emotional connection with Odisha at the party Karyakarta Sammelan after arriving at Nabarangpur on Thursday.

He is on a daylong visit to the state, which is part of senior BJP leaders’ visit to various Lok Sabha constituencies ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly polls.

“I am meeting party workers in Odisha after a long time. I share an emotional bond with the state. When the party embarked on Bharat Suraksha Yatra against the Congress rule in 20o6, I as the president had then decided to begin the 35-day, 5500-km yatra from Jagannath Dham in Puri,” he said amid a loud cheer from people.

Singh said that everyone must be aware of those times when jehadi terrorism and left-wing extremism ruled the roost in the country, raising questions about national security and safety of people. “Things have changed drastically since BJP won a majority and formed the government in 2014 with Narendra Modi as the prime minister. There has been a substantial decrease in terrorist attacks since then. Through Uri and Pulwama, our armed forces have proved that they can now neutralise terrorists inside and also across the borders if required. This is the strength of India,” he said. Naxalism is now restricted to a couple of states, he added.

Singh said that the BJP has proved that it is the only party that can provide good governance. “BJP walks the talk which helped end the crisis of credibility in politics. Odisha also needs a double-engine government. Political analysts are saying that we will form the government here,” he said

Elaborating further, the Defence Minister said that the Congress used to “forget” the promises made to the people after elections for which the people had “lost faith” in politicians. “However, things have changed since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. The party had promised the abolition of Article 370, the end of Triple Talaq and also Sri Ram Temple at Ayodhya in its election manifesto. All those promises have been met. “We (BJP) do politics to serve the people and build the nation and not just to rule the country,” Singh said.

He also exhorted BJP workers to reach out to every voter in the state. “Dedicate 12 hours daily to the party and 12 hours to the family to ensure that the Modi government is formed at the Centre and a double-engine government is formed in Odisha,” he added.

Earlier speaking to the media, Singh said that people have reposed faith in PM Modi that he will have “his 3rd term in the central government and also the 4th…”

At Nabarangpur, he attended the meeting of core committees and functionaries in charge of general election of four Parliamentary constituencies of Balangir, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Kalahandi at Nabarangpur.

A public meeting has also been arranged near Gopalpur, where a large number of supporters of local MLA Pradeep Panigrahy will join the BJP in the presence of Singh. It will also be attended by party workers from five Parliamentary constituencies of Aska, Berhampur, Kandhamal, Khurda and Puri.

Singh will address a second public meeting at Baripada. Apart from general public, party workers from four Parliamentary constituencies of Bhadark, Balasore, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj will attend, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the state in the last week of this month to address a public meeting at Chandikhole in Jajpur district. During his visit, he will have darshan of Lord Jagannath at Puri.

Modi had earlier visited Sambalpur in Western Odisha and addressed a massive public rally on February 3. Ten days later, senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan addressed several BJP party programmes in Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack districts during his daylong trip to the state.

The saffron party, the second major political force in the state after the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), has set a target of 80 of the 147 assembly seats and aims to win at least 16 of the 21 Lok Sabha berths from the state in the upcoming elections.