BHUBANESWAR: Even as BJP president Amit Shah launched a no holds barred attack on the performance of the Odisha Government during his three-day visit to the Capital City, which concluded on Friday evening, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said his visit will have no impact on the ruling BJD’s prospects in next Assembly election.
“I don’t see any impact,” Naveen told mediapersons here on Friday replying to a question. Responding to Shah’s remark that those who had turned old were finding it difficult to come to terms with the BJP’s claim of winning more than 120 seats in next polls, Naveen said, “I didn’t know that Shah has doubts about my age.”Naveen, who is known for not reacting to remarks by political adversaries, responded to Shah’s claim of winning 120 Assembly seats in next election twice during the last three days.
The BJP president had favoured a younger leadership to be in charge of running the State.
“Some think it is impossible to get 120 seats. But we have a young leadership and therefore, are optimistic of winning 120 seats in next elections in the State,” he said at a press conference. Shah, during this visit, has been highlighting BJP’s ‘Mission 120+’ (to win over 120 seats in the Assembly polls). Several BJD leaders including the Chief Minister, however, expressed doubt over the capability of the BJP achieving the ‘120+’ target. “I doubt whether they (BJP) will get so many seats in next elections,” Naveen had said just before Shah’s arrival in the State on Wednesday.