We will win the Assembly election in Odisha without a chief ministerial face, said Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan while replying to senior journalist Prabhu Chawla’s questions at the Odisha Literary Festival held in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
“We fought the Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana without chief ministerial faces and won. We will repeat the same in Odisha as well,” Pradhan said.
“The NDA has completed 25 years. It will contest the coming 2024 general elections under the leadership of Narendra Modi. I am saying here that we will win in more than 350 seats,” he added.
Observers believe that since women voters have been playing a crucial role in Biju Janata Dal’s victory in elections in Odisha, this time, both the BJP and the BJD have set their eyes on this vote bank.
With the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, the BJP has taken advantage. The party is going to make the bill the fulcrum of its campaign. It has already drawn out a blueprint to send out a message that it is with the women.
On the other hand, the BJD is pulling all stops to retain its women vote bank. In order to send out a message, it made Pramila Mallik the first women Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. This apart, the party has already rolled out several schemes for women self-help groups (SHGs) including the scooter scheme.