**Bhubaneswar: ** After being elevated to cabinet rank, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday was accorded a rousing reception by the Odisha BJP workers the moment he landed from New Delhi at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here.
Notably, Pradhan took oath as a Cabinet Minister on Sunday at the Rastrapati Bhawan.
Soon after the promotion, this is his maiden visit to Odisha as he is not only the son of soil, but also BJP’s Odisha poster boy.
With his elevation to the cabinet rank from his earlier stint as Minister of State, the saffron party workers are further in an upbeat mood as under his stewardship the party has performed astoundingly in the recent three-tier Panchayat Polls in Odisha, especially bagging unexpectedly a considerable number of Zilla Parishad seats.
Dharmendra Pradhan is here in Odisha not only after the cabinet rank, but also to attend the significant three-day-long party meeting to be addressed by BJP national president Amit Shah.
Amit Shah’s slated three-day visit starts from September 6. He will address a ‘Maha Sammelan’ (mega conclave) of the BJP office bearers, leaders and grassroots level workers on September 8.
During this 3-day political tour, Shah will focus on expansion of BJP’s base in the State ahead of the 2019 election and to achieve his Mission-120 assembly seats in Odisha.
He has already launched a massive political programme of ‘Mo Booth Sabuthu Mazboot’ (my booth strongest) in a bid to rejuvenate the organisational base at 34,000 booths in Odisha.