Bhubaneswar/Balangir: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said BJP president Amit Shah's claim about winning more than 120 seats in the state in the next general elections was an exaggerated boast.

"I think it's very very exaggerated," said Naveen. He was reacting to Shah's assertion in Balangir that his party would get more than 120 seats in the 147-member Assembly.

BJD leader Prasanna Acharya mocked Shah, saying that there was no ban on daydreaming. He said the BJP had failed to learn lessons from its defeat in the Bijepur bypoll.

Addressing a public meeting in Balangir, Shah said: "Naveen babu planted a story in the media about why I was silent in my address in Bhawanipatna about mission 120+. Let me tell you, the BJP is going to get many more seats than 120. It will be even a bigger mandate than what we got in Tripura."

Shah also compared Naveen with a burnt transformer and urged the party workers to throw the BJD government out of the state.

"The youths will play a major role in realisation of the dream of a developed Odisha and the new India movement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

Hitting back at Shah, Acharya said: "Bijepur is the nerve centre of west Odisha. If they have not learnt any lessons from their humiliating defeat in Bijepur and continue to daydream, let them do that. We have nothing to say."

Shah's visit was aimed at boosting the sagging morale of party workers in west Odisha, which was once considered its bastion. On Wednesday, Shah had visited and addressed a public meeting in Bhawanipatna.

Shah on Thursday accused Naveen of targeting the BJP workers.

"In the past one year, more than 14 BJP workers have been killed by BJD goons in Odisha. But, the government has failed to arrest the killers. Once the BJP comes to power, they all will be behind the bars," he said.

Shah, along with Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and a few other party leaders, dined in the house of Maheswar Suna, who is a Dalit, at Deogaon in Balangir district.

He also visited a village where there was acute shortage of drinking water and the villagers were forced to drink fluoride-affected water. "The village is only a few kilometres from a river. A small check dam can solve the water problem of the village. But, Naveen babu is sleeping," he said.