Wish to contest 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Odisha, have requested BJP to give me a chance: Dharmendra Pradhan

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said he wants to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Odisha and has requested the party to give him a chance.

In an interview with PTI, Pradhan said the BJP's agenda is to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets to serve the nation for a third term.

"I want to contest the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. I have already informed the party about my wish and have requested it to give me a chance. The BJP's agenda is to ensure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets to serve the nation for a third term," he said.

The Union Education and Skill Development minister, who is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha, said he considers the opposition INDIA bloc as a "real challenge".

"I consider it as a real challenge because the BJP and the NDA do not take any election casually. From ground workers to top leaders, everybody takes each election very seriously and the prime minister leads us from the front," he said.

On the women's reservation bill, Pradhan said Prime Minister Modi has set an example by giving political rights to the country's mothers and sisters.

"The Congress let the women's reservation bill lapse and did not show any dedication to it during its rule. Nobody had held their hands. They had the opportunity (to get the bill passed) but they did not do it," he said.

Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his demand for a nationwide caste census, Pradhan said he and his "family party" should share details of the work they did for the OBCs and weaker sections in the last 75 years