BHUBANESWAR: Monday's
electoral victories in
Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have given
BJP in Odisha reason to be optimistic.
The saffron party is hoping to prevent
Naveen Patnaik from getting a fifth term as chief minister in the assembly election scheduled for 2019. The impact of the result, if any, in the BJD-ruled state will first be seen in the upcoming byelection to the Bijepur assembly seat. The bypoll, necessitated by the death of the seat's Congress legislator Subal Sahu, may even foreshadow the outcome of the assembly polls of 2019. "The results will have a huge impact on Odisha. With Modi's track record in development, people of the state are increasingly reposing faith in the party," petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.
The BJP, buoyed by its stellar performance in the three-tier panchayat elections in February in which it won 306 of the 853 zilla parishad seats, as compared to 36 seats in 2012, is hopeful of snatching the state from BJD. In September, BJP launched Mission 120+ in which it aims to win at least 120of the147 assembly seats in Odisha.
The Gujarat result has also cheered Congress in the state. Party stalwart Narasingha Mishra said: "The falling victory margin of BJP in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state shows that people are not happy with the party or the PM." "On the contrary, Congressdid remarkably well and is now on the path of revival.One year is goodenough for us to stage a massive comeback across the country and in Odisha,"he added. Political analysts said a weakened Congress had helped BJP do well in the panchayat elections in 2012. "If Congress does better here, BJPhas more reason to worry than Naveen," an analyst said.
Naveen, who tweeted that he had called both Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley to congratulate them, is yet to officially react on the poll verdict.
BJD spokesperson and MLA
Amar Prasad Satpathy said, "The Gujarat poll outcome is a lesson for BJP. Considering the party engaged its entire machinery in the home state of the PM and the party president(Amit Shah),the result should have been better for BJP. We have no reason to worry.
