Bhubaneswar: After the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) faced crushing defeat in last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha, many senior leaders of the regional party have been openly expressing their views regarding the poll debacle.
While several leaders are voicing resentment over the state of affairs in the Naveen Patnaik-led party, others are citing reasons behind the drubbing suffered by the BJD in the twin elections.
Amid signs of intense infighting in the party, senior leader and former Minister Padmanava Behera has cited four major reasons behind BJD’s rout in the elections. “Our party faced defeat mainly because of four reasons – selection of candidates, party president, workers and funds for electioneering,” he claimed.
Stating that right candidates were missing in some places, Behera said BJD president Naveen Patnaik could have participated in a bigger way during election campaign.
Referring to election manifesto, the senior leader said people appeared to have found the manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) more attractive. Promises like Subhadra Yojana, hiking MSP of paddy to Rs 3100 per quintal and free electricity seemed to have made significant impact on the voters, he said.
On the other hand, some of the proposals made by BJD leaders were accepted while many suggestions were not included in the party manifesto, Behera said.
Noting that the statements made by veteran leader Amar Satpathy were his personal views, he said the party is making a thorough analysis of the situation and steps are being taken to strengthen the organisation.
Speaking on party affairs, senior BJD leader and former Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak said all political parties encounter resentment among workers to some extent.
Asserting that BJD will emerge stronger in future, Nayak rubbished BJP leaders’ claim that the regional party is going to disintegrate and said the saffron party is making such statements to keep itself happy.
On the other hand, senior BJP leader and Minister Rabi Narayan Naik claimed that BJD is going to perish. Stating that the regional party will disintegrate and most of its leaders are set to join BJP, he claimed that BJD organisation will crumble.