With by-election fever gripping the Bijepur Assembly constituency, Orissa POST correspondent Biswa Bhusan Mohapatra interacts with Sanat Gartia of BJP to his views. Excerpts:
How are your preparing for the by-polls ahead and why should people vote for you?
There are so many issues in our Bijepur constituency. The Chief Minister had earlier promised to resolve these issues, but he did not fulfil his promises. Before the 2018 by-poll, the CM himself had announced irrigation projects to irrigate 32,000 hectares of land in Bijepur assembly segment. However, till now, not a single parcel of land has been provided with irrigation facility. Even, works for the irrigation project have not been started yet.
Secondly, there is a crippling shortage of doctors and teachers in our area. Here, the farmers do not get minimum support price (MSP) set for paddy. Besides, there is lack of proper drinking water facility for our people. The goodwill for Modi can still be felt here even after the scrapping of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. This will help me win the seat.
The vote share of BJP has come down in Bijepur in 2019 election in comparison to the 2018 by-poll. How will you manage to get a majority this time?
Yes, the vote share of BJP in Bijepur assembly segment has come down in 2019 general election because the Chief Minister himself contested from this seat and people voted for him as the CM. They thought if Naveen Patnaik becomes their MLA, there will be significant development in the area. But, this will not happen this time around because many promises made by the CM have not been fulfilled so far. People of Bijepur feel cheated and I am sure they will be with us. The people will vote for BJP and elect the BJP candidate.
There is general perception among the people nowadays that BJP and BJD have a secret pact for which BJD supports many Bills in the Parliament and had donated a Rajya Sabha seat to BJP. Your comments?
The BJD has supported many Bills in the Parliament because those Bills were brought for the development of poor people and for the betterment of India. As for donating an RS seat to BJP, they (BJD) should inform why they did it. I am making this clear that it will not be a brotherly match in Bijepur, it will be a tough fight and we are working hard to beat the BJD in this election.
What will be your first priority if you are elected to the Assembly?
I will work for the improvement of health and education in our area and will ensure MSP and irrigation facility for our farmers.
