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Gujarat Chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strong man Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Odisha on July 16.
This will be Modi's first visit to the state after his anointment as the chairman of the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign committee of the BJP.
"He (Modi) is coming only for the darshan of Lord Jagannath on July 16. He will be coming to the state after attending the Rath Yatra in his state on July 10," said BJP state president K V Singhdeo.
Modi, who is projected as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the ensuing general elections, will seek blessings at the Gundicha temple as the trinity (Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra) will be on their annual nine-day sojourn.
During the car festival every year, the three deities spend nine days outside the 12th century shrine.
Modi was recently appointed as the chairman of the election campaign committee recently.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in his recent visit to New Delhi has said that the Modi has no influence outside Gujarat while maintaining that his party is keeping equidistant from the Congress and the BJP. The BJP was in coalition with the BJD in Odisha before severing ties with the regional party in 2009 just before the polls.
