Bhubaneswar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to arrive here tomorrow (Friday) on a two-day visit to the State.
As per tentative program, Shri Shah will arrive in Bhubaneswar on Friday night around 10.40 PM. He will spend the night at a hotel in the capital city.
On Saturday, the Union Minister is scheduled to attend the inauguration programme of National Highway projects from 11 AM to noon. He will also attend review meetings on left wing extremism and disaster management in the State headquarters in between 12 PM to 12.30 PM.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with senior officers of Odisha Government will attend both the review meetings, sources said.
In the afternoon, Shri Shah will visit the State BJP office, where he will have lunch and hold meetings with several saffron party leaders of the State there from 2 PM to 5 PM. He is also likely to interact with party workers at the grassroots and make strategy for 2024 General Elections and the Odisha Assembly polls.
He will return to Delhi on the same day after having a brief meeting at the airport from 5.20 PM to 5.50 PM.
The sudden visit of Shri Shah to the State at a time when BJD extended full heart support to the Centre in passing of Delhi Bill and will vote against the no-trust motion brought by Opposition parties in the Parliament.
As the State BJP is continuously attacking the power centre raising several issues, the top brass leader of the saffron party would guide the State leaders about future course of action.
Local political observers smell that something is cooking behind the visit of Shri Shah to Odisha. The visit of Saffron Veteran will give a clear cut direction to the State BJP whether they will strongly fight against the BJD Government or something else may come up in the picture.
Earlier, Shri Shah’s visit to Odisha scheduled on June 17 had been put on hold in view of the situation caused by Cyclone Biparjoy, which affected Gujarat.