BHUBANESWAR: BJP president
Amit Shah is scheduled to visit the western part of the state in the second week of April. Shah will address party workers in at least two places in western Odisha.
BJP state unit president
Basanta Panda on Sunday said, "The BJP chief will interact extensively with party cadres in the region. The details of his itinerary will be shared soon."
After his party's impressive performance in the northeastern states recently, Shah had said the 'golden era of BJP' would not come until it comes to power in Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala. Shah's choice of western Odisha as the destination of his visit is telling as the BJP had lost to the ruling
BJD in the recent
Bijepur byelection in Bargarh district - located in western Odisha. The BJP had finished second in what the party described not as a setback but a reflection of its emerging popularity as the principal challenge to Naveen, pushing Congress to the third slot.
BJP insiders said Shah's main aim in this visit would be to give out a clarion call and enthuse cadres to fight towards 'Mission 120 Plus'- the BJP's war cry to win 120 or more of the 147 Assembly seats in the state. Shah had coined the phrase during his last visit to the state in September, 2017.
In his past two visits to the state (an earlier visit in 2017 saw him come down in July) Shah had mostly toured the coastal districts which are a BJD stronghold. The western part, where the BJP had done comparatively better than the rest of the state in 2014, is now the prime focus.
Out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP had won only one -
Jual Oram's Sundargarh. It had finished second in nine LS seats, in Bargarh, Balangir, Sambalpur and Kahalandi in western Odisha besides Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj.
BJP chief Amit Shah 
