V K Pandian: Win 50-60 seats, break BJD to form govt is BJP's strategy

V K Pandian: Win 50-60 seats, break BJD to form govt is BJP’s strategy

BHUBANESWAR: With days to go before simultaneous state and Parliamentary polls in Odisha gets underway, CM Naveen Patnaik’s close associate V K Pandian said the BJP’s strategy is to win 50 to 60 assembly seats and break Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and form a govt.

“They (BJP leaders) had announced a target of getting 120 assembly seats in 2014 but failed. I do not remember what their target was for 2019. This time, their strategy is to win 50 to 60 seats and break BJD after the elections,” Pandian told reporters at Gopalpur in Ganjam district. “They are planning things similar to what they did in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka,” he added.

Pandian, however, said BJP will not succeed given people’s trust on chief minister Naveen Patnaik. “BJD will win three-fourth assembly seats this time. Our Lok Sabha tally will also go up,” the bureaucrat-turned politician said.

Former BJP president Samir Mohanty said BJP is confident of doing well on its own and form the next govt in state. “However, there are many in BJD similar to Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde who left Uddhav Thackeray. They feel suffocated in BJD and would love to join BJP. They can’t remain subservient to an unelected individual there,” he said.

People will make right choice: Pandian

Continuing his attack on the BJP, bureaucrat-turned-BJD politician V K Pandian on Tuesday said the people of Odisha will select their chief minister and not the authorities of the saffron party.

Referring to the remarks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an election rally here on Monday that the new BJP CM of Odisha would be selected on June 6 and oath-taking ceremony would be held on June 10, Pandian said people of the state would elect Naveen Patnaik as the chief minister for the sixth time and he would take oath on June 9.

“The BJD has declared Naveen babu as its chief minister. If you (BJP) have courage, declare the name of the chief minister. I am sure, if you declare the chief minister face, the party will not get 10% votes in the state,” he said at an election rally at Khallikote in Ganjam district. He also held roadshows in Sheragada under Hinjili assembly segment and Berhampur.

Without naming Dharmendra Pradhan, he said a Union minister is trying to become chief minister of the state. “Odisha’s development will go back 25 years if the opposition came to power in the state,” he said.

“Also, their govts will be remote-controlled from New Delhi but only the people of Odisha can remote control Naveen babu. This is the difference between the double-engine govt and the Naveen engine govt,” he added.

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