Rajnath Singh, Narendra Modi follow Naveen Patnaik, Rahul Gandhi's cue; to campaign in KBK region

BHUBANESWAR: With over 22 per cent of Odisha's population being tribal and about half of Assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats reserved for tribals and Dalits in south-western areas, leaders of BJD, Congress and BJP will focus on the poverty-stricken KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir -Koraput) region.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and BJD supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik campaigned during the day in undivided Koraput district, the centre of the KBK region.

While Gandhi addressed two public meetings at the traditional Congress fort of Koraput and Nabarangpur, Patnaik attended seven public meetings besides undertaking roadshows. As undivided Koraput was politically sensitive and prone to change according to wave, both Rahul and Naveen were focussing on these two parliamentary constituencies.

"While BJD wanted to retain its position in Koraput area, Congress put its best to regain party's lost glory among tribals in the district," said a political observer.

After Gandhi and Patnaik's tour of the KBK region, BJP's star campaigners like party president Rajnath Singh and prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would hit the campaign trail on April 2 and 4 to woo tribal people and the poor. The BJP has reasons to be optimistic as all its six MLAs in 2009 elections were from the south-western region. This apart, BJP had in the past during BJD-BJP coalition era in 2000 and 2004 general elections, had won Bolangir, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Sundargarh from the south-western region of the state.