Bhubaneswar: A post poll survey by the state leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is yet to be made public, suggests that the saffron party could win around 13 Lok Sabha and 68 Assembly seats in Odisha if everything goes according to their.
The survey prepared by the state BJP leadership on the basis of reports received from the grassroots level after accessing the ground reality claims that the party is gaining ground in many parliamentary constituencies owing to the ‘Modi wave’, which appears to be working in Odisha this time. However, when the entire nation was swayed by the ‘Modi wave’ in 2014, Odisha was not affected by it.
According to sources close to the party leaders well versed with the survey report, it is likely that the saffron party, which failed to do much in the 2014 general election in terms of vote share, may make a great leap this time as the party appeared to be winning the hearts of the electorate even in some BJD strongholds.
As per the internal post poll survey, the BJP is confident of winning the Bhubaneswar, Puri, Bolangir, Dhenkanal, Aska, Sambalpur, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi and Koraput Lok Sabha seats, while it expects close contests in Kendrapara, Cuttack, Balsore and a few other parliamentary seats. On the other hand, the party seemed to have accepted that it would not make much impact in some LS seats like Nabarangpur, Keonjhar, Berhampur, Jajpur and Jagatsinghpur.
Interestingly, the party had pinned their hopes on former BJD MP from Kendrapara Baijayant Panda and former BJD MP from Nabarangpur Balabhadra Majhi, but now feels that these new entrants have not helped the party much at the hustings.
As far as the Assembly seats are concerned, the BJP is confident of winning Badamba, Cuttack Sadar, Remuna, Bramhagiri, Chilika, Ranpur, Bhubaneswar Central, Rengali, Deogarh, Simulia, Chandabali and others.
The party believes that it was due to the effortless toil of the grassroots workers and volunteers and the focus of the party’s central leadership that paved the way for its rise in this eastern state, which has otherwise been a stronghold of the BJD.
Sources close to the state BJP leadership believe the uninterrupted attention of senior BJP leaders like Dharmendra Pradhan, Amit Shah and others have helped the party to gain ground in the state. The party is hopeful of increasing its strength in the state Assembly too.
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