CM to visit Bijepur today to thank people

BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would visit Bijepur on Monday to thank the people of the Assembly constituency for their overwhelming support to the BJD candidate during the recent by-poll.

Preparations are on full swing for a public meeting at Barapali to be addressed by Patnaik.

Party MP and vice-president Prasanna Acharya said that during the election campaign, the opponents had said that Bijepur would be forgotten by the ruling party after the election, but they are mistaken. The Chief Minister would come for a “Juhar Bhet” with the Bijepur people.

However, senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik said the BJD instead of the State’s development is only interested in furthering its own interest. The people should understand there has been absolutely no development in Odisha.

Similarly, BJP State spokesperson Sajjan Sharma questioned whether Naveen Patnaik going there as the Chief Minister or the BJD president.

 “How are the people of Bijepur going to be benefitted?”

Political observers said the BJD wants to prepare for the 2019 general elections and project Bijepur as a model constituency. It also wants to use the Bijepur by-poll victory to have a strong foothold in western Odisha.