The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign seems to have hit the top gear in Odisha with a galaxy of senior party leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the forefront as the first phase of simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls are barely three days away.

Modi, who is scheduled to undertake a roadshow in Bhubaneswar on Friday evening, will address three election rallies in Kandhamal, Bolangir, and Bargarh parliamentary constituencies on Saturday to bolster the prospects of the saffron party in the coastal State.

Party heavyweights, right from National President J P Nadda to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, will be in the state to address the election meetings to fulfill the party’s resolve to oust the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and its supremo Naveen Patnaik.

BJP’s vote share over the years in the state is on a steady rise from 21.9 per cent in 2014 to 38.9 per cent in the Lok Sabha polls while it climbed to 32.5 per cent in 2019 from 18 per cent in 2014 in the Assembly polls. The saffron party achieved the feat at the cost of Congress, which fell from over 26 per cent vote share in 2014 to 14 per cent in the 2019 LS polls.

On the other hand, the regional party’s vote share came down slightly to 43.3 per cent in 2019 while it stood at 44.8 per cent in 2014.

Odisha is going to simultaneous polls for the 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats on May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJD, bagged the maximum number of 12 seats, followed by the BJP with eight and Congress one seat.

In the last assembly elections, held simultaneously with the general elections in 2019, the BJD recorded a thumping electoral success winning 113 of the 147 seats. The BJP stood at a distant second with 23 seats, followed by Congress with nine. The CPM won one seat while an Independent won another.

Modi, in an earlier election meeting on Monday, asserted that the expiry date of the BJD Government in the state is June 4, the day the assembly election results will be announced. He exuded confidence of winning all 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

With the poll dates drawing closer the saffron party is becoming more pronounced in its determination to change the electoral narrative. It is prepared to deal the final blow to the BJD and its regional satrap Naveen Patnaik, who is at the helm of electoral politics, firmly ensconced in power for the past 24 years.

Be it the Lok Sabha or the Assembly polls, such was the dominance of the BJD that it left little scope for the Opposition with the regional party becoming invincible with every successive victory over the years.