Bhubaneswar: Core Committee of Odisha BJP has started post-mortem of the three-tier panchayat poll results. It is reviewing the factors that helped in victory of some party candidates and the flaws which led to defeat of others. Even the party has decided to fight legal battle for the candidates who have lost the polls in a small margin.
District leaders have arrived near the BJP core committee to present the details of victory and defeat. A closed door review was done by the saffron party at the State headquarters. While the meeting was headed by State President Basant Panda, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, National Joint Secretary (Organisation) Soudan Singh and Odisha In-charge Arun Singh were among the few who were present in the meeting.
After official declaration of the panchayat poll results, 297 Zilla Parishad seats came in hand of BJP. However, based on the calculations of party agents the state leaders had added 34 more seats in the account of BJP. As the party has earned majority in eight districts, it can form Zilla Parishads there. The current factors that led to BJP's victory in comparison to 2012 rural polls are being reviewed by the party leaders.
Talking to media persons, former BJP MP Rudra Narayan Pani said, "The organisation is increasing in a planned way during every election in Dhenkanal and Angul districts and the amount of votes have increased. While the ruling BJD confined us at 25 seats, we could have earned five to seven more seats and could have formed Zilla Parishads comfortably in two districts."
State BJP Krushak Morcha president Sibaji Mohanty said, "Analysis was done in panchayat level to find our position in every panchayats, who is our opposition there and what is our margin."
Notably, even though the BJP was in alliance with BJD in 2002 and 2007, the performance of the party was not so good. The party had won 183 seats in 2002 and 129 seats in 2007. After breaking the alliance and contesting alone in 2012 the party had received only 36 seats. So now the leaders are excited to have achieved such an increase in votes. The party is planning for the 2019 elections on basis of these votes. The core committee members have asked the local leaders to strengthen the party.
BJP Mahila Morcha President Prabhati Parida talking to media persons said, "A form had been sent to find out the amount of our votes and votes of other parties and all had been asked to submit the form along with signatures. The core committee sat to plan the strategies for the Nabakalebara to be held in 2019 as said by the State leaders."
It may be mentioned that the BJP was not able to open account in 14 districts during 2012 elections. In current election, excluding the home district of State President Basant Panda, Nuapada, BJP has marked its presence in every districts of Odisha.