Bhubaneswar: Even as senior BJP leaders lambasted BJD calling it out for its ‘corrupt’ model of governance, Rajya Sabha member from the ruling party Sasmit Patra on Saturday said that by-elections can never be models for politics or governance.
Speaking to the media ahead of the BJP meeting in Odisha capital, Union Minister said that if BJD had the Padampur model then BJP had the Dhamnagar model.
“For the BJD, the model of governance is serving 4.5 crore people of Odisha. Despite winning elections for the past 22 years in Odisha, BJD has never made electoral victory a model for serving the people of Odisha. Our model is a model of good governance, of 5-T and Mo Sarkar, of transforming Odisha into the number one state in India,” Sasmit said.
He also urged Dharmendra not to use by-election models for governance. “Let’s use the model of good governance for serving the people of Odisha,” he added.
The debate on good governance was fueled by BJD’s thumping win in the recently concluded Padampur bypoll. Dharmendra said that the BJP has learnt a lot from both Dhamnagar and Padampur bypolls. “They taught us how to face the 2024 general elections. BJP is the main opposition in Odisha. People want us to bring the state government’s failure to the fore.”
Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi also claimed that Gujarat had the best governance model in the country where the party won 156 seats. “Odisha has a corrupt governance model which people will not accept,” she added.