Puri, July 16: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi did some political plainspeak here today, even though BJP leaders had termed his visit personal.

Taking on chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who had once served as minister in the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, Modi said it was possible for the BJP to remove the BJD-led government if it followed a proper strategy.

Outlining his plan before nearly 230 party leaders here, Modi said: “Every wall should carry the message of the Bharatiya Janata Party and expose the misdeeds of the government in power.”

He stressed on the need for constituency-specific strategies that could highlight misdeeds of the local Congress as well as ruling party MLAs. He urged the party workers to prepare charge sheets against the Congress and the state government.

He advised the state leaderships to build an army of dedicated workers at polling-booth levels to highlight the misdeeds of Congress and the BJD government.

“Like Gujarat, the people of Odisha are not with the Congress. The BJP can take advantage of it. It has to launch a battle to win the confidence of people,” he said.

Modi asked the party leaders to organise at least 1,000 meetings in the 147 Assembly constituencies of the state by the end of September. “There are many leaders who don’t want new people to join the party because it would threaten their own position. But, in order to strengthen the party, we should involve more people and target retired people from various professions including defence and the police.”

He also asked the state leadership to utilise social networking sites to reach out to the younger generation.

“Active workers of the party should join Facebook and Twitter. It will not cost much if the party launches programmes on radio,” he said. Modi, who is also BJP’s election campaign committee chairman, called upon party workers to fan out to villages across the country to collect iron nails from farmers to build a “Statue of Unity” in the memory of Sardar Vallabhabahi Patel, who was referred to as Iron Man.

“The party will also collect nails from each village in Odisha,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Modi visited the Sri Gundicha Temple to have a darshan of Lord Jagannath and His siblings. After spending around half an hour there, he came to Puri temple to have a darshan of the Goddess Bimala, Goddess Laxmi and Lord Ganesh.

After coming out of the temple, he acknowledged the contribution of Odias in the economic development of Gujarat.

Speaking to reporters in Odia, Modi said: “People from each district of Odisha have contributed to the progress of Gujarat. I thank all my Odia brothers for that.”

He said there was a lot of similarity between Gujarat and Odisha. “Odisha has the Sun Temple in Konark, and when the sun rises in the east, its first rays fall on the temple. When the sun sets in the west, its rays fall on the Sun Temple at Modhera in Gujarat,” he said. During his Puri visit, Modi called on Puri king Maharaja Dibyasingh Deb and Puri Shankaracharya. During the meeting, shankarachrya asked him to work for the unity and integrity of the party.

Singh Deo clears air

BJP state president K.V. Singh Deo today scotched rumours that veteran politician and former minister Bijay Mohapatra was leaving the party.

“There are reports in the media that Mohapatra is leaving the party. He is very much in the party,” Singh Deo said.

Mohapatra, who was not seen in several meetings of the party because of personal reasons, today shared the dais with Modi. Mohapatra is considered a major think tank of the party. His absence in various party meetings had raised questions that Mohapatra might leave the party.

BJP leader Chandan Mitra said: “Modiji’s visit would make a dent in Naveen’s bastion. Development work has almost stopped in Odisha.”