Bhubaneswar: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday revealed the secret why his party decided to go alone to the polls in Odisha, disregarding the overture of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for a pre-poll tie-up.
He said the BJP decided to fight it on its own strength as per the suggestion of the party’s state unit leaders.
“Our party workers strongly believed that for Odia language, culture, and for pride of Odisha, the BJP should fight separately. So went with their beliefs,” Amit Shah said in an interview with India Today TV.
He added, “We urge the Odisha public to give the responsibility of state's growth to BJP under the PM Modi leadership. Wherever PM Modi has emerged victorious, the growth rate has gone up by a huge margin.”
The alliance talks between the Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party had failed, with both parties deciding to contest the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections alone.
After the deal was off the table, Odisha state BJP president Manmohan Samal said the saffron party did not agree with the BJD government on many issues about the “interests of Odia people,” like “Odia Asmita” and “Odia glory.”
The BJP had last month confirmed that it was contesting the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls alone.
