Bhubaneswar, April 6: Coinciding with the party's 38th foundation day, the BJP today performed bhumi puja (ground breaking ceremony) at Janata Maidan for its upcoming national executive meeting scheduled on April 15 and 16.
The executive meet will take place at Janata Maidan while senior party leaders who will come from Delhi will be staying at various hotels in the city.
The maidan will have 80,000 square feet carpet area and 51,000 square feet floor area. At the meeting place, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) will be set up which will work round the clock. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will stay at Raj Bhavan, others including senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and chief ministers of 13 BJP ruled states and nearly 40 central ministers will stay at various posh hotels in the city.
Modi is likely to reach here on April 15 afternoon and leave the next day. During his stay, Modi will directly interact with the 333 BJP national executive members and dine with them at the meeting place. Sources in the party revealed that the menu would be strictly vegetarian.
"We will also try to give an Odia touch to the menu and offer Odia dishes such as aarisha pitha and chaula khiri and other popular local preparations to the delegates," a source said.
BJP's spokesperson Dillip Mohanty said: "Besides the PMO office, an office will be set up for our party president Amit Shah who will supervise and conduct the meeting."
He also said: "We have also provisions to make arrangements for the chief ministers to directly operate from the meeting place. There will also be an exclusive VIP lounge where leaders can communicate with one another and relax."
Mohanty said leaders would start reaching at Bhubaneswar from April 13. Before the national executive meeting Amit Shah will also hold meetings with the party workers.
Delhi-based N.K. Kapoor Decorators, which is building the infrastructure required at the site, has already begun work to set up the pandal. "Every thing will be ready by the morning of April 13," said one of workers of the decorator. The decorator had earlier taken care of infrastructure needs for the Make in Odisha conclave in Bhubaneswar organised by the Odisha government in November.
As part of security, state intelligence officials as well as officials from the government of India today inspected the site of the meeting.
The bomb disposal squad also accompanied the officials and thoroughly checked the entire ground. Sniffer dogs were used as well.
Another spokesperson, Sajjan Sharma said: "All efforts are being made to make the event a grand success. The blueprint will be prepared to launch an all-out effort to oust the Naveen Patnaik government, which failed to deliver the goods despite being in power for 17 years. We will also organise road shows at all the 21 parliamentary constituencies in the state."
"As the central ministers and secretaries are in Bhubaneswar, they will review various central sponsored welfare schemes implemented in the state," said the party's general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan.
This is the fourth time that the BJP is organising its national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar. But what is more important is that for the first time BJP is organising the executive meeting when its in power at the Centre and also in power in 13 states of the country.
The BJP had previously held its national executive meetings here thrice in 1983, 1992 and 1997.
