Puri: The three-km long Badadanda (Grand Road), the venue of annual car festival in this Pilgrim Town Tuesday turned into a show of strength for BJP as party president Amit Shah conducted a road show with party leaders and the candidates contesting the polls.
The BJP president came by road and went to Srimandir to offer prayers to the presiding deities.
Shah and other BJP leaders mounted on a decorated and illuminated truck followed by hundreds of BJP supporters passed along Badadanda waving the crowd.
After covering about one km of the three-km Badadanda, Shah left for Bhubaneswar while Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan completed the show.
Puri Assembly candidate Jayanta Kumar Sarangi, Brahmagiri Assembly nominee Lalitendu Biddyadhar Mahapatra, Kakatpur candidate Rabi Mullick and Satyabadi MLA nominee Omprakash Mishra shared the truck with Shah besides Sambit Patra, the party candidate the Puri Lok Sabha seat.
Local leaders also organised street corner meetings while several vehicles carrying the BJP message followed the road show. Hundreds of saffron party activists from the district had participated in the show. Police had a tough time to regulate the traffic. The show passed off peacefully, said sources.
The roadshow commenced from the Lions Gate, in front of the 12th century shrine and culminated at Gundicha temple.
Senior party leaders Baijayant Panda and Bijoy Mohapatra also accompanied Shah in the roadshow.
UNI