Odisha: BJP MPs, MLAs from state shift camp to Delhi to discuss polls strategy

Bhubaneswar:  All the MLAs and MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit of Odisha are now camping in New Delhi to meet the party’s central leadership and chalk out strategies for the forthcoming Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assembly polls.

The delegation of the lawmakers led by Jayanarayan Mishra, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Odisha Legislative Assembly, will meet the party’s central leaders, including President JP Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah over a period of two days – December 22 and 23.

“On December 22, there will be a meeting of the party's state office-bearers following which we will meet the party’s central leaders. PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the party’s national president JP Nadda will meet us on December 22 and 23. Since they have more experience in election management, their insights will be very useful to us,” said BJP state president Manmohan Samal.

During the discussion with the central leaders, the Odisha lawmakers are likely to make Prime Minister Narendra Modi aware of the alleged hijacking of central schemes in the state by the ruling BJD and the removal of his (PM Modi’s) picture from the posters.

Speaking to reporters at the Bhubaneswar airport before leaving for New Delhi on Tuesday evening, LoP Mishra had said, “Our schedule includes meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister. We will also meet party president JP Nadda in Delhi.”

 “We will discuss the party’s current status, organisational strength in Odisha, and how the Naveen Patnaik government is ruling Odisha by misleading the people for 24 years,” he added.

The BJP has been accusing the Odisha government of hijacking Central funds to launch a host of ‘counter schemes’, but posting a dismal show in implementing these programmes.

Odisha will go to the Assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections next year.

The political atmosphere in Odisha has heated up in recent times as leaders of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP have been trading charges on issues of governance, corruption, and law and order situation.

 In 2019, Amit Shah who was then the party’s national president had set a target to win 120 of 147 assembly seats in the state. However, the party could win only 23 seats. However, of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, it won 8.

The saffron party’s performances in the crucial rural and urban local body polls have been abysmally poor. Its vote share in 2022 rural polls dropped to 30.07 per cent from 32.49 per cent in the 2019 assembly elections. 2022 Odisha Rural Polls: Of the 852 Zilla Parishad seats, it got only 42 while the ruling BJD won 766 seats with a massive vote share of 52.73 per cent.