BHUBANESWAR: With less than a year remaining for the 2024 elections, the ruling BJD has started assessing the ground situation in all 147 Assembly constituencies. As part of the exercise, MLAs are being called to the Naveen Niwas in phases to discuss organisational status, strengths and weaknesses in their constituencies and steps needed to correct the situation.
Earlier, more than 50 MLAs were called to the Naveen Niwas in two phases. Sources said that 24 more MLAs were asked to attend such meetings recently.
According to some of the MLAs who had attended the meeting earlier and recently also, it is a stock-taking of the BJD’s position in the constituency and what the MLA should do during the next five to seven months keeping in view the upcoming election. All the problems and issues are being discussed and a detailed list of all the pending works is also presented, a senior legislator said and added that they are being asked to keep in regular touch with their constituency.
Sources, however, maintained that a call to Naveen Niwas is not a guarantee for a ticket for the election. This is being seen as a ploy of the leadership to keep the MLAs happy in view of the growing factionalism in the ranks. Parallel organisations have come up in many constituencies with new contenders aspiring for tickets. The leadership does not want to encourage divisions in the organisation by promoting one contender against another.
A senior leader said that the leadership has all details about each constituency and the meeting is a review of the work done by the MLAs before elections are announced. He said that all the constituencies will be covered before the election. Not only sitting MLAs but prospective candidates from constituencies where the party had lost in 2019 will also be called to Naveen Niwas. Their turn will come after the meetings with the MLAs are over, he said.