BHUBANESWAR: After an emphatic victory in the Padampur bypoll, BJD on Saturday announced ‘Mission 125’ for the 2024 Assembly election.BJD will win at least 125 out of the 147 seats in 2024, former minister and chief of election manager of the party in the Padampur by-election Sushant Singh told mediapersons. He said the party will also win more than 30 Assembly seats out of the total 36 in western Odisha.
Stating that chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s popularity and well-planned strategy ensured such a spectacular victory in the Padampur bypoll, Singh said that the party will request him to contest from western Odisha in 2014 election. He also said that the CM is again likely to visit Padampur in January.
The former minister said that the BJD had won 114 seats in the 2019 election due to some miscalculations which will be taken care of this time around. He said in western Odisha districts the BJD has won only 23 seats. But this time tickets will be given to persons based on ground report and win probability, he added.
However, unfazed by the defeat of its candidate by a huge margin, BJP said it is hopeful of forming government by securing two third majority in the next Assembly election. Dismissing BJD’s optimism, leader of Opposition Jayanarayan Mishra said BJP has already started preparations for the 2024 election and is hopeful of forming government with two-third majority. Stating that the party is not working with any mission, Mishra said it is focusing on all the 147 Assembly seats in the state.
Congress also claimed that the party’s performance will improve significantly but may not form government after the next election. The Congress will win around 65 Assembly seats in the state while BJD’s tally may be reduced substantially, Congress MLA Suresh Kumar Routray said.