Bhubaneswar, Oct. 1: The BJD and the Opposition Congress will undertake mass contact programmes in the form of “padyatras” (foot marches) tomorrow.

Both parties have chosen the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti to launch their campaigns.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik will launch his party’s “Jan Sampark Abhiyan” from a slum at Brahmeswarpatna area in Old Bhubaneswar. Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik will start a weeklong “Parivartan Abhiyan” from Swaraj Ashram in Cuttack, which was a once major hub of activity during the freedom struggle.

The campaign will conclude at Sakhigopal, another freedom struggle hub, on October 9, which coincides with the birth anniversary of Pandit Gopabandhu, a leading freedom fighter of Odisha.

This mass contact programme has been an annual affair for the BJD since its inception in 1997, but the Congress is holding the campaign for the first time.

Naveen seems to have taken the programme seriously because of the threat posed by suspended party colleague Pyari Mohan Mohapatra and also the Opposition's accusations against him on the issue of coal block allotment. He has written to party MPs, MLAs and district presidents to mobilise party workers for the campaign, said a senior leader of the party.

He has also asked them to enrol new members.

Hectic activities in the Congress, which had been lying dormant for quite some time, have also worried the BJD leadership.

The Congress’ rally on September 6 and the Odisha strike marked signs of the party’s revival.

“Our focus will be on the Centre’s neglect and its anti-people moves such as the recent diesel price hike and cap on cooking gas. We will also highlight major scams during the UPA regime, including Coalgate,” said BJD general secretary Narendra Swain.

The party’s mass contact programme will conclude on October 11, coinciding with the birth anniversary celebration of Jaiprakash Narayan.

“During the weeklong campaign, awareness will be created among the people about all the scams in the state during the BJD’s 12-year rule, deterioration in law and order and defunct official machinery,” said Odisha Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik.