Bhubaneswar: The BJP’s cry for a ‘Congress-Mukt Bharat’ took a beating in the recent assembly elections to three states ruled by it with the grand old party ready to wrest power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while going neck-and-neck in Madhya Pradesh.
Buoyed by the latest trend in results even as the counting is on, president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik on Monday said that the time has come for the country to be free from the BJP rule.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that he will make India a Congress-free country. Now that the BJP has suffered a big blow in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and is on the verge of losing its grip on Madhya Pradesh in the Assembly elections and that too, in the Hindi-speaking states. The time has come for the country to be free from the BJP rule,” Niranjan told mediapersons here.
The OPCC president also expressed happiness over the astounding victory of the Congress in Chhattisgarh.
“I am very happy that our party has come to the power in Chhattisgarh with a thumping majority. We are now quite hopeful that we will get some reprieve from the neighbouring states, especially on the issue of Mahanadi. We will take up the Mahanadi issue after the Congress government assumes power,” he added.
Asked whether the anti-incumbency factor, which is reflected in the Assembly poll results in Chhattisgarh, will be repeated in Odisha, the OPCC president said “We hope that the manner in which the people of Chhattisgarh rejected the 15-year rule of the BJP, the people of Odisha will reject 18-year rule of the BJD government.”
