Bhubaneswar: The Naveen Patnaik-led BJD on Monday began a massive training programme for party workers to strengthen its presence in grassroots level in the run-up to the simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections, scheduled next year. MLA Debi Prasad Mishra, who is convenor of the training committee, said the main aim is to create greater public sensitization of Odisha’s transformational journey since 2000, when BJD was first voted to power in the aftermath of the 1999 super cyclone.
“While Naveen took over as chief minister of Odisha, the state was in tatters because of the cyclone. Under his leadership, it has emerged as a role model in disaster management. Secondly, the workers are being trained on party’s vision for 2036, when Odisha will celebrate its centenary, so that everybody is involved in the shared dream of a developed Odisha in the next 13 years. It’s the CM’s vision for a developed Odisha by its centenary year,” Mishra explained.
The training would continue for about 40 days, covering all the 147 assembly seats. The BJD expects the 30,000 workers to train more people in their constituencies and ensure there is at least one such trained person for every 20 households.
The workers are also being given pointers to ward off misinformation campaign, if any, by political rivals, the senior BJD leader said.
On the first day, around 800 workers, 200 each from Hinjili, which is represented by Naveen, as well as Cuttack Choudwar, Jagatsinghpur and Bhanjanagar participated in the training programme in separate batches.
“We were given guidance on how flagship programmes in Odisha such as Biju Swathya Kalyan Yojana, transformation of high schools under 5T and initiatives for women’s empowerment had brought outstanding transformation in the state in more than two decades,” said a BJD worker from Cuttack who attended the training.
“Workers from each assembly seat are being trained in a batch as there would be cohesion among them. Besides, there may be constituency-specific issues, which they need to know,” another BJD leader said.
“While Naveen took over as chief minister of Odisha, the state was in tatters because of the cyclone. Under his leadership, it has emerged as a role model in disaster management. Secondly, the workers are being trained on party’s vision for 2036, when Odisha will celebrate its centenary, so that everybody is involved in the shared dream of a developed Odisha in the next 13 years. It’s the CM’s vision for a developed Odisha by its centenary year,” Mishra explained.
The training would continue for about 40 days, covering all the 147 assembly seats. The BJD expects the 30,000 workers to train more people in their constituencies and ensure there is at least one such trained person for every 20 households.
The workers are also being given pointers to ward off misinformation campaign, if any, by political rivals, the senior BJD leader said.
On the first day, around 800 workers, 200 each from Hinjili, which is represented by Naveen, as well as Cuttack Choudwar, Jagatsinghpur and Bhanjanagar participated in the training programme in separate batches.
“We were given guidance on how flagship programmes in Odisha such as Biju Swathya Kalyan Yojana, transformation of high schools under 5T and initiatives for women’s empowerment had brought outstanding transformation in the state in more than two decades,” said a BJD worker from Cuttack who attended the training.
“Workers from each assembly seat are being trained in a batch as there would be cohesion among them. Besides, there may be constituency-specific issues, which they need to know,” another BJD leader said.
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