Winning Strategy
Naveen may go for early state polls in Odisha
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik is likely to dissolve the state assembly and seek a fresh mandate along with five other states scheduled for fresh elections in November this year. The term of the current assembly expires next May and elections are to be held along with the Lok Sabha polls. Sources said that Patnaik is keen on decoupling the two elections. He plans to dissolve the state assembly well in time for the elections to be held in December along with five other states namely Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram. According to sources, Patnaik feels that simultaneous elections for the assembly and Lok Sabha might prove disadvantageous for his party. He feels the MLAs get engaged in their electioneering and find little time to mobilise voters for the party’s Lok Sabha candidates. In the last assembly elections, Patnaik’s party, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) won a landslide by bagging 112 out of the total 147 seats, while the main opposition party, BJP, could win only 23 seats. Congress came a distant third with nine seats. But in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, which were held along with the assembly elections, the BJD could win only 13 out of 21 seats, while the BJP took away eight. Patnaik feels the focus of the party apparatus on winning state elections has hurt the chances in Lok Sabha polls. The BJD chief is not only keen on retaining power in the state but also plans to increase his tally in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Media Outreach
PM to restart off-record meetings with scribes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to start meeting editors and bureau chiefs of media platforms in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. Sources said the Prime Minister’s Office as well as the media department at the BJP’s central headquarters are busy preparing a list of invitees for these interactions. The Prime Minister will meet the journalists in batches of eight to ten to discuss governance and politics. Sources said that, unlike similar interactions in his first term where he mostly answered questions, the Prime Minister plans to make this round more interactive. The Chatham House rule is followed in these interactions which allows the attendees to use the information received at the meetings without identifying who said what. Journalists who attended the previous round of interaction spoke about the Prime Minister’s frank and detailed answers to all questions. They said the interactions helped them understand the Prime Minister’s views on crucial issues. The discussions were freewheeling, with no bar on asking any questions. Sources said this time around the Prime Minister will also be asking questions. He would like to know about the effectiveness of his government’s schemes and gaps in policy-making, if any, sources said. The interactions are likely to start next month and the journalists in the national capital have quite a repository of questions for the Prime Minister.