With less than a year left to the general elections in 2024, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) appointed Manas Mangaraj and Shreemayee Mishra as party observers for Berhampur and Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha Constituencies, respectively.
It is pertinent to mention here that the conch party already has district observers and senior observers on the ground to manage the organisation. Now that the party has gone to the extent of appointing Lok Sabha Constituency observers indicate that the ruling party has begun to feel insecure about its prospects in the concerned Lok Sabha seats.
BJD’s apprehensions, should they have it, are not unfounded too. As per reports, out of the 12 BJD Lok Sabha MPs, there are many who are seeking MLA tickets instead of MP tickets from the party. On top of that, the BJP has already confirmed that party heavyweights & Union Ministers, Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw will contest in Lok Sabha seats in Odisha.
BJD’s Lok Sabha MP, Chandrasekhar Sahoo said, “People say a lot of things when elections approach. As far as my decision is concerned, I will contest wherever the party fields me, be it on an MP seat or an MLA seat.”
Even the experts are of the same opinion too. Speaking on the election strategy, senior journalist, Prasanna Mohanty said, “The BJP has all its focus on MP seats. They will definitely try to get more than eight seats this time. That is why many BJD leaders do not want to contest in LS seats, instead want MLA tickets.”
That is why it is being said that the BJD is putting more focus on MP elections this time around, particularly on the eight LS seats that it lost to BJP in 2019.
BJD MP Munna Khan said, “We had lost eight seats to BJP in the last election. But we will try to win them back this time.”
On the other hand, the BJP is also reportedly trying to ensure that it retains the eight seats and adds some more to its kitty. In fact, the saffron camp is said to be working on a strategy to win 16 LS seats this time. BJP president JP Nadda has already visited Puri and Kandhamal and he is scheduled to visit Kalahandi on June 22.
“The BJP will fight the elections to form governments both in the State and at the Centre. The parliamentary committee is currently in the process of deciding who will contest from which seat. The leaders will get on the ground accordingly,” said Odisha BJP Chief, Manmohan Samal.
The Modi wave is also said to be a factor in BJD’s renewed focus on MP seats. To put the facts straight, BJP had won eight LS seats in 2019 with a vote percentage of 39 while the BJD won 12 seats with a vote percentage of 43.32. The BJP got seven percent more votes in MP seats than in the Assembly seats.