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Naveen makes whirlwind tour of south Orissa

BERHAMPUR: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik made a whirlwind electoral tour of south Orissa on Monday.

He used helicopter to hop from place to place to attend campaign meetings in Rayagada, Koraput and Gajapati districts. A poll boycott rally by Chasi Mulia Samity at Narayanpatna in Koraput district coincided with the visit of the Chief Minister to the district.

Mr Patnaik attended public meetings at Kasipur and JKpur under Rayagada Assembly segment. He addressed election rallies at Kalyansinghpur and Muniguda of Bisamkatak Assembly constituency.

Then he flew to Gunupur Assembly segment to take part in campaign. All these three assembly segments in Rayagada district covered by the BJD chief are under the Koraput parliamentary constituency. Then he reached Laxmipur in adjoining Koraput district for the next election meeting. Laxmipur is again part of Koraput parliamentary constituency. His next on this long campaign trail was at Gumma in Gajapati district, which is part of Paralakhemundi Assembly segment under Berhampur parliamentary seat.

All places touched by the Chief Minister were tribal pockets. Mr Patnaik called upon the voters to vote for the BJD elaborating the developmental projects taken up by his government for tribals and dailts.

But the activists of the Chasi Mulia Samity, which is alleged to be a frontal organization of the Maoists, staged a demonstration before Narayanpatna block office in Koraput district against the coming elections. Their demonstration coincided with the visit of the Chief Minister to the district. The demonstrators gave a call for poll boycott with the allegation that elections had no value for them as they were still deprived of basic amenities like education, medical facility, electricity etc.

More than 3,000 persons with their traditional arms participated in this rally. In a similar manner on March 25 hundreds of Chasi Mulia Samity had held demonstration in front of the Kalimela block office calling for the boycott of polls.

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