PM Modi offers prayers at Jagannath temple, holds mega roadshow in pilgrim city Puri

Puri(Odisha): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday morning offered prayers at Lord Jagannath temple in Puri and later held a road in the pilgrim city.

The roadshow, attended by nearly a lakh people, presented an enthralling spectacle as multiple cultural troupes participated in it, adding colour and flavour to the event.

The PM, who arrived in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar on Sunday evening, flew to Puri early in the morning and performed puja of Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhdra.

As he came out of the temple with folded hands after darshan of the deities, thousands of devotees gathered outside the temple literally jostled to have a glimpse of him. Modi did not disappoint them. Flanked by the security personnel and the Sevayasts (priests) closely following him, he walked to the devotees and greeted them.

The roadshow marked Modi, accompanied by BJP state president Manmohan Samal and party’s Puri Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra, waving at the swelling crowd.

The two-km roadshow between Singhadwar (Lion’s Gate) of Lord Jagannath Temple to Medical Square literally turned into a sea of crowds. Tourists, both domestic and foreign staying in the galaxy of hotels on the Grand Road, were seen trying to sneak a look of the PM from the rooftops of their hotels.

The BJP has fielded its national spokesperson Sambit Patra from Puri seat.

The PM is scheduled to address two public meetings – one at Cuttack and the other at Angul under Dhenkanal parliamentary constituency later today.

The BJP has fielded Bhartruhari Mahtab, a former BJD MP, as its Lok Sabha candidate. Rudra Narayan Pani, a firebrand BJP leader, is contesting from Dhenkanal seat.

In his earlier public meetings at Berhampur, Nabarangpur, Bargarh, Bolangir and Kandhamal , the PM had launched a no-holds-barred attack on the Naveen Patnaik government on many issues, including alleged failure of governance, corruption, nepotism and lawlessness.

Besides, the PM has put the Naveen Patnaik government in the dock over the mysterious missing of keys of Lord Jagannath’s Ratna Bhandar. He has dared CM Naveen Patnaik to explain under which circumstances the keys went missing and if all the gems and ornaments in Ratna Bhandar are safe.