Bhubaneswar: The scheduled visit of Odisha’s BJP MLAs to New Delhi to meet national leaders has led to speculations in political circles about the party’s preparation for elections in 2024.
According to sources, all 22 MLAs of the BJP led by the party’s state president Manmohan Samal will leave for New Delhi on December 27. They are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and national president of the party JP Nadda.
Admitting the visit to Delhi, BJP MLA Pradipta Naik said all the legislators of the state as a group have not met the senior leaders since the last general elections. “Besides making a courtesy call, we will discuss several issues with the leaders,” he said.
On the issues to feature in the meeting, Naik said prominent among those are failure of BJD government in several sectors and hijack of the Central schemes in the state.
The BJP leader did not rule out a brainstorming session to hammer out a strategy to take on BJD in the coming elections. “The ways to counter the BJD in using state machinery and money and muscle power in the elections may figure in the discussion. Besides, corruption, failure of law and order and protection of women are other matters that may be taken up,” said Naik.
In his reaction to BJP MLAs’ visit to Delhi, senior Congress leader Suresh Routray told the media that it is meant to get fund for the coming elections. “The BJP leaders know that they cannot beat BJD in money power from their own resources. They need huge financial support to counter the way the chief minister is using money to woo the voters,” he said.
Terming the visit as a gesture of show to hoodwink the voters, Routray said, “Everybody knows that BJD and BJP are two sides of a coin. BJD has been supporting the BJP in all the Bills brought in Parliament. Home Minister Amit Shah had come to Odisha some time back and held a meeting with 5T chairman VK Pandian. All these things show BJP’s seriousness in defeating BJD in the state.”
The BJD, in its response, said it was normal for state leaders of any party to meet the central leaders before the election. “Such activities are common in all parties. But the issues the state BJP leaders are raising are baseless. The Central government has time and again appreciated our government’s achievements in several fields,” said BJD MLA Amar Satpathy.
