On a day BJP president Amit Shah will visit Bhawanipatna in
Kalahandi district, the ruling BJD will put up a show of strength here. Chief minister
Naveen Patnaik will visit his home turf on Wednesday to induct several Congress leaders into BJD.
Among those who will join Congress is former Union minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu, former AICC member Bikram Kumar Panda, former district Congress committee president Bhagaban Gantayat and 11 corporators of the
Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC).
Naveen will also visit his home constituency of Hinjili to inaugurate and lay the foundation of different projects there. In Berhampur, too, he will inaugurate some projects of the BeMC and attend a public meeting organized by BJD's
Ganjam district unit.
Some Congressmen from Koraput, who have already resigned from the party, are also likely to join BJD in the presence of the chief minister.
Congress leaders downplayed the defections. "No one is going to miss these people," said
Sandhya Mohapatra, chairperson of the disciplinary committee of Pradesh Congress Committee.
