Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Odisha twice in January 2019, party sources said Friday.
Modi is scheduled to visit Baripada in Mayurbhanj district in northen Odisha on January 5 and is slated to address a public meeting at Bolangir in the western part of the state on January 16, state BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said.
The back to back visits of the prime minister is seen as BJP's efforts to strengthen the party's network in the state ahead of the 2019 general elections. The state assembly polls are slated to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik heading his BJD government will seek re-election for the fifth straight time.
The prime minister had visited Odisha on December 24 and addressed a public meeting at Khurda apart from launching a number of projects, including a new campus of IIT Bhubaneswar and foundation stone of IISER Berhampur.