Bhubaneswar: Conceding defeat in the Bijepur byelection, senior BJP leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday accepted the people’s mandate and said his party would introspect on its defeat.
However, he said the lesson that his party has learnt in this byelection would immensely help in the forthcoming elections in 2019.
Replying to the landslide victory of the BJD, he said the results speak volume of the tacit understanding between the ruling party and the Congress.
Stating that his party had chosen a good candidate, Pradhan claimed that compared to previous election in Bijepur, his party has performed much better this time.
He admitted that his party failed to materialise its campaign against the misrule and inefficiency of the BJD government.
BJP candidate Ashok Panigrahi said despite losing the elections, the voting percentage of the party in this byelection has doubled as compared to previous elections.
“From this election, it is now clear that the BJP has emerged as the only alternative party to the BJD in Odisha,” he pointed out.
Asked about the massive victory of the BJD, Panigrahi said the ruling party has got a lion’s share of the Congress vote. He further claimed that the BJD has thoroughly used the government machinery to its favour in the byelection.
He termed the victory of BJD as a victory of the black money and a murder of democracy.
