BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to address rally in Odisha

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Friday headed to Sambalpur city in western Odisha–his second visit to the state since February.

Odisha sends 21 MPs to the Lok Sabha and has been led by chief minister Naveen Patnaik for 14 years. Patnaik’s party, the Biju Janata Dal, is placed strongly in the state and may play a crucial role if the Lok Sabha elections throw up a hung house. Modi, in a rally in Bhubaneswar on February, had criticised Patnaik and mocked his inability to speak Odiya but praised his late father, Biju Patnaik.

“I was trying to speak in Odiya not because I wanted to put down your chief minister, but there should be respect for every language in the country,” Modi had said.