BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the three-day visit of BJP president Amit Shah to Odisha from September 6, the party’s war of words with the ruling BJD escalated with several leaders of the regional party claiming that the ruling party will win 123 seats in next Assembly election.
Shah’s three-day visit to the State Capital to interact with party office-bearers from booth level upwards is seen as an attempt to enthuse the party rank and file to work for achieving the goal of winning 120 seats in next Assembly election and form Government.
However, BJD vice-president and senior Minister Surya Narayan Patro dismissed BJP’s projection for next election. “I don’t know how BJP will win 120 seats, but the BJD will increase its tally from 117 in the present Assembly to 123 next time,” he said.
Two other BJD leaders, senior Minister Damodar Rout and spokesperson Sameer Dash, also dismissed BJP’s claim. Both Rout and Dash asserted that BJD will win 123 seats in next Assembly election. “The target set by BJP to win 120 Assembly seats in next election will turn out to be a day dream. Janata Dal under the leadership of Biju Patnaik had won 123 Assembly seats in 1990 election and the BJD will also win same number of seats or exceed the number,” he said.
The Congress, which was out of this number game so far, on Monday claimed that the party will win at least 85 seats in the ensuing Assembly election. Former minister Suresh Kumar Routray said in the last Assembly election, 42 Congress candidates lost to BJD rivals by less than 2000 votes and 12 were defeated by a margin less than 5000 votes. All these seats will be won by Congress and its tally will improve, he said.
However, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra dismissed the calculations of BJD and Congress. “Calculations of Amit Shah never go wrong and in Odisha, BJP will definitely win 120 Assembly seats in next election,” he said.