With general elections less than a year away, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha has already begun its preparations. However, apart from the Assembly seats which it requires to form the government in the State, the Conch party has its focus set on the Lok Sabha seats as well, reportedly to gain greater bargaining power at the Centre.
The BJD lost nine out of the 21 LS seats in 2019. While the BJD lost eight (Kalahandi, Bolangir, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Mayurbhanj, Balasore & Bhubaneswar) seats to the BJP, it lost one LS seat (Koraput) to the Congress.
As per reports, the Conch party is planning to win those seats while at the same time retaining other seats that it had won in 2019.
Sources said, apart from acquiring more bargaining power at the Centre, by winning more LS seats, the BJD is trying to eliminate the headache that some of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs particularly Bhubaneswar MP, Aparajita Sarangi have been giving it.
It is pertinent to mention here that Sarangi has been cornering the Odisha government over many issues like 5T Secretary’s district visits, PMAY irregularities and corruption in mining. So the BJD has been scratching its head to field a suitable candidate against her in Bhubaneswar.
While Shreemayee Mishra has been appointed by the BJD as the observer for Bhubaneswar, the party has not made it clear whether it will field a woman candidate or a heavyweight leader to counter Sarangi in Bhubaneswar next year.
However, Sarangi said, “It does not matter who is fielded against me. This time around, the people will the fight election, not me.”
“I will welcome whoever contests against me,” she said.
However, apart from Bhubaneswar, the BJD and BJP are already at loggerheads in the Balasore Parliamentary Constituency as well.
Culture Minister, Ashwini Patra, who belongs to Balasore, said, “Pratap Sarangi is the current MP from here (Balasore). However, it will be difficult for him to win this time around if he decides to contest again.”
To which, Pratap Sarangi replied, “BJD has been ruling Odisha for a long time. They always put in all their efforts. They had tried their best to win Balasore last time too. But the BJP won from here. So, there is no reason for us to be complacent this time too. We will win Balasore again.”
Notably, if the BJD wins more Lok Sabha seats, then it will be able to have more say at the Centre. Similarly, if it wins more Assembly seats then the Conch party will be able to win all the Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha as well.