BHUBANESWAR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will on Thursday visit Odisha to kick off the BJP’s poll campaign in the state from Sonepur.

Shah will address a public meeting at Sonepur in western Odisha within the Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency, BJP state president Manmohan Samal said.

He will arrive at Veer Surendra Sai Airport at Jharsuguda from Hyderabad around 3.45 pm and travel to Sonepur in a helicopter. Shah is scheduled to address the rally at Rameswaram Stadium at 4.35 pm, party sources said.

BJP state vice-president Golak Mohapatra said all arrangements are in place for the home minister’s public meeting.

Shah will start campaigning from western Odisha, as the BJP performed well in the region in the 2019 general elections. The saffron party candidates had won the five Parliamentary constituencies – Sambalpur, Bargah, Bolangir, Kalahandi and Sundergarh (all in west Odisha) in 2019.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will also contest from the Kantabanji assembly segment within the Bolangir parliamentary constituency.

After the public meeting at Sonepur, the home minister will travel to Bhubaneswar via Jharsuguda and stay the night in the state capital.

Samal said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP president J P Nadda are also likely to visit the state to campaign for party candidates.

Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be held in phases in Odisha from May 13.