Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday praised Odisha voters for their maturity. He was speaking on ‘One Nation, One Election’ in the Rajya Sabha.
“Odisha is mostly rural (gramin) area. It is not a very developed state. It definitely needs a lot of attention and help to get better. The voters from there have voted differently for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, which means our voters keep their minds open and are aware, and intelligent. They voted for BJD in Vidhan Sabha and for BJP in Lok Sabha. This is a sign of maturity in our country. Are we not disrespecting them?” PM Modi asked.
On June 19, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, while addressing the all-party meeting, had said that the BJD fully supported the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’ as frequent elections affect the pace of development and also rock the spirit of cooperative federalism.
“BJD has always been supportive of whatever is being done in the interest of the country and its people, and we would continue to do so in future as well,” he added.
In the twin elections held in Odisha in April, BJD won 112 of the 146 Assembly seats and 12 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP pocketed 23 Assembly and eight LS seats.
