Bhubaneswar, Dec. 27: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will visit the state on February 11.

President of the BJP Odisha unit K.V. Singh today said: “Modi would address a mass convention in the city. The venue of the convention will be finalised later.”

The Telegraph, in its December 22 edition, had carried a report about the BJP’s move to keep the Gujarat chief minister away from the state in view of the civic polls in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Modi will be visiting immediately after the urban polls in the twin cities are over.

Initially, Modi was scheduled to avoid the coastal belt and visit Sambalpur in the first week of January. But a powerful section in the party, particularly from the coastal belt, had opposed the move. His visit was subsequently cancelled. To make Modi’s visit a grand success, a co-ordination committee meeting will be held on January 4 in the capital.In a related development, the party has constituted a committee for the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, in a way marking the beginning of the party’s candidate selection and poll campaign process.

It will be Modi’s second visit to Odisha during the last seven months. He had visited the Puri on July 16 to pay obeisance to Lord Jagannath after he was elevated in the party hierarchy. “During his visit, Modi had asked the party leaders to take a series of steps to rejuvenate the party in the state. Not a single suggestion given by him was implemented. In the urban elections, we got only three civic bodies as against 20 we had before. Only a miracle can save the party,” said a senior leader.

Senior party spokesperson Suresh Pujari said: “The atmosphere today is reminiscent of 1998 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was projected as BJP’s candidate for the post of Prime Minister. The only difference is that the man in focus now is Narendra Modi. We are confident that history will repeat itself.”