The emergence of an aggressive BJP in the state has made the Naveen Patnaik government sit up and establish direct contact with the masses through a slew of grassroots-level programmes.

The purpose of the mass contact programmes is to directly interact with the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes of the state government. Talking about the obvious political import of the programmes, a BJD leader said it would help the party galvanise its rural network using the government platform. Read the full report here.