Bhubaneshwar: Narendra Modi was crisscrossing Orissa on Sunday, but stayed away from ground zero of the state's communal violence -- Kandhamal. The reason given was a chopper snag.
Significantly, Modi's focus was not vote bank politics but development.
"If you are concerned about development, concerned about the common man, you have to vote for Advani, BJP and NDA," he said in his rally.
But as the star campaigner skipped Kandhmal, the local BJP candidate and former IPS officer Ashok Sahu struck a far more strident note.
"What happened in Kandhamal is nothing to be ashamed of, at least not for me. Today, Kandhamal symbolises Hindu culture," Sahu said.
In neighbouring Udaigiri constituency the BJP -- the worst affected in the communal riots -- has given its ticket to Manoj Pradhan who is currently in jail for four cases of murder and rioting.
The Sangh Parivar has already made its presence felt in Kandhamal. And now the BJP feels its time for it to move in to reap its political benefits.