Union minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, said the people of Odisha are totally unhappy with the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal government.
The assembly elections in the state are due in 2019 and the state is rife with speculation on how Pradhan, a senior BJP leader from Odisha, could be declared the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate in the coming days.
Said Pradhan to THE WEEK, “There is a yearning for change in Odisha, which can be clearly felt. Our party president, Amit Shah, has set the target of two-thirds majority, that is not less than 120 seats, in the 147-member Odisha assembly in 2019. Each and every BJP worker in the state is working really hard to achieve the target. We would provide a government that would work for the poor.”
Pradhan said that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has not delivered on the people’s mandate. “Odisha has become one of the most backward states of the country. A number of children in the state have died due to malnutrition. There is hardly any improvement in income- generation activities in the state. Our fight is not one of replacing the BJD government with the BJP government. Our fight is for the poor people in Odisha who are forced to migrate to other states in search of work.”
Pradhan, who enjoys the confidence of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, could be projected as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. He said, “I am an ordinary party worker. As a party worker, my only job is to strengthen the party in the state. We will strengthen the BJP in 36,000 booths in every nook and corner of the state.”
The BJP is looking at Odisha with fresh hope after it performed really well in the panchayat elections in the state in February, replacing the Congress as the main opposition party. The BJP held its national executive meet in Odisha, in April this year, after around 20 years.
