Kalahandi gears up for PM visit, a first in 26 years

  • | Sunday | 31st March, 2019

A voter of Medinipur village, Devraj Sahu, said he was eager to see the Prime Minister in the flesh as it was after the latter’s encouragement that he had opened a bank account. Rao had been accompanied by then chief minister Biju Patnaik.With Modi scheduled to visit Bhawanipatna for a public meeting on Tuesday, the excitement of the residents here is peaking. They are moving towards Congress,” he added.The BJD’s Lok Sabha candidate Pushpendra Singh Deo said central leaders were lying to voters and only the regional party would fulfil the people’s aspirations. Now I even have an ATM card,” he said.In the last few weeks, Kalahandi has played host to several high-profile visitors, including chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath and Congress president Rahul Gandhi. “I had no account before Modi came to power.

Bhawanipatna: When Narendra Modi visits Kalahandi on April 2, it will be the first time a Prime Minister will have set foot here in 26 years.In 1993, the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao had visited Kalahandi to inaugurate a railway project at Lanjigarh Road and had announced the ‘KBK scheme’, a centrally sponsored scheme for integrated development of the Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput region — considered one of the poorest in the country. Rao had been accompanied by then chief minister Biju Patnaik.With Modi scheduled to visit Bhawanipatna for a public meeting on Tuesday, the excitement of the residents here is peaking. A voter of Medinipur village, Devraj Sahu, said he was eager to see the Prime Minister in the flesh as it was after the latter’s encouragement that he had opened a bank account. “I had no account before Modi came to power. His zero-balance account scheme benefited me. Now I even have an ATM card,” he said.In the last few weeks, Kalahandi has played host to several high-profile visitors, including chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath and Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The BJP is hoping that a visit by its most high-profile campaigner, Modi, would energize the cadre here.The BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate for Kalahandi, Basanta Panda, is confident that Modi’s visit would pull in more votes for the party, which had won 33 out of the 36 zilla parishad seats here in 2017.“We have been working at the grassroots. Our party will win all the assembly seats under Kalahandi this time,” Panda said.The Lok Sabha candidate of Congress, Bhakta Charan Das, however, said the people would reject BJP, as they had done in the Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan assembly elections in 2018.“Voters now know they will never get the promised Rs 15 lakh in their accounts. They are moving towards Congress,” he added.The BJD’s Lok Sabha candidate Pushpendra Singh Deo said central leaders were lying to voters and only the regional party would fulfil the people’s aspirations.

If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

NYOOOZ FRIEND

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.


Stay updated with all the Latest Bhubaneswar headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.

Related Articles