Bhubaneswar: To meet party's national president Amit Shah's aim to win 120 of the 147 Assembly seats, BJP's Odisha unit has ramped up its activities down to the grassroots level.

"With our Mahasampark Yatra attracting a lot of support and our booth committee programmes drawing youths in large numbers, we are confident of achieving the target set by our party president. Our programmes are bound to generate the right kind of momentum that we hope to continue till the elections arrive," said BJP's Padampur MLA Pradeep Purohit.

Purohit, who has been leading the mass contact programme or Mahasampark Yatra in his constituency, said the party's Adivasi and Krushak Morcha activists were also meeting people regularly and telling them about the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.

State BJP's Adivasi Morcha president and Kuchinda MLA Rabi Nayaran Nayak exuded confidence about party's initiative for empowering gram sabhas (village councils) to consolidate votes in its favour. "Apart from this we are also organising meetings of educated people in rural areas under the Gaon Ku Chala (let's go the villages) programme. This is also generating good response," he said.

Though party leaders admit that the BJP is yet to make a dent in the BJD's coastal bastion, they remain hopeful about getting a foothold in the belt before the elections come calling.

"The success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's May 26 rally at Cuttack, which is considered the gateway to coastal Odisha, is an indication that people in this region are slowly but steadily tilting in favour of the BJP," said Purohit.

At present, only two of BJP's 10 MLAs in the state hail from the politically important coastal belt where the BJD rules the roost. "It is true that most of our MLAs come from western Odisha, where we enjoy a strong base. However, given the right kind of strategy and a little more effort we can do well on the coast," said a senior BJP leader.