Odisha people set to bid farewell to Naveen: Nadda

Bhubaneswar: Holding a roadshow in Bhubaneswar in support of party candidates, BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday asserted that the people of the State have ‘’decided to give rest’’ to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik by electing the saffron party to power.

Nadda, who was standing in a saffron-coloured open-hood vehicle flanked by Bhubaneswar’s BJP MP and candidate Aparajita Sarangi and Ekamra-Bhubaneswar Assembly seat’s party nominee Babu Singh, was seen waving at crowds on both sides of the road during the roadshow from Mausima chowk to Lingaraj temple.

People greeted the BJP president and showered petals on him from buildings on either side of the road, while BJP workers participating in the roadshow waved party flags and raised slogans.

Speaking to reporters during the three-km roadshow, Nadda said people’s enthusiasm indicates that they have ‘’decided to give rest’’ to Naveen Patnaik, who has been ruling Odisha for the last 24 years, and elect a BJP government in the State.

Referring to the first phase of simultaneous elections in the State on May 13, when voting was held in four Lok Sabha seats and 28 Assembly constituencies, Nadda said, ‘’The BJD has missed the bus.’’ Asked on the BJP’s probable CM face in Odisha, Nadda said the saffron party had decided on its chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan within three days of the election results. ‘’Odisha will also see something similar,’’ he said.

Nadda’s roadshow in Bhubaneswar was held a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s roadshow in neighbouring Cuttack.