BJD & BJP lock horns to strengthen vote banks 

After the 2024 general elections, BJP and BJD are once again found competing with each other. While BJD is trying to strengthen its vote banks in urban areas, BJP is leaving no stone unturned to strengthen its rural vote banks. 

BJP is going all out to take sarpanchs and samiti members to its fold. Recently, as many as 18 BJD-backed samiti members from Chief Minister Mohan Majhi’s Assembly constituency Keonjhar Sadar met the Chief Minister in Bhubaneswar and felicitated him. 

Political experts are viewing this incident as a portent of something big going to happen in Keonjhar. 

This apart, some days ago, 13 samiti members and eight sarpanchs joined BJP in the presence of Dharmasala’s independent MLA Sudhanshu Sekhar Swain. 

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On the other hand, after succeeding in removing the chairperson of the Phulbani municipality by a no-confidence motion, BJD is replicating the same formula in Junagarh NAC to remove Chairman Mukesh Agrawal.

“BJD is conspiring to remove elected municipality chairpersons by bringing a no-confidence motion against them which is not good for the democracy,” said Artattrana Mohapatra, BJP president, Kalahandi. 

“If sarpanchs and samiti members are joining BJP on their own for the development in their areas, we are ready to extend a helping hand,” said Rajendra Panda, BJP spokesperson. 

BJD MLA of Junagarh Captain Dibyashankar Mishra said, “Everyone has the right to join in the process of democracy.”

According to political analyst Rabi Das, BJD is using the no-confidence-motion as a weapon to save its vote bank.