Mission 2019: BJD, BJP mull media blitzkrieg to woo voters

Bhubaneswar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the BJP are planning to launch a massive media blitzkrieg to predispose voters ahead of the general elections.
As the ruling party in the state, the BJD is ahead of the BJP. The Congress party, which has been down on the dumps here for many years, wants to ride on its mint-fresh win in the Hindi heartland.
Sources said, the state government has asked all departments to line up their achievements and various welfare projects. It plans to prepare short films on various programmes by the departments. These capsules will be shared with various news channels to reach out to the voters.
The Works department will prepare 48 short films on various achievements, including the Biju Express Way and Gurupriya Bridge. To woo rural voters, the state government has planned to carry out campaigning by way of the PEETHA programme that will be organised at GP level from the 15th to 20th of each month.
The BJP is planning to mount a similar campaign in Odia to highlight what it has done for the state over past four years. The achievements including distribution of free LPG cylinders, pucca houses, IOCL refinery, among others will be highlighted by the party.
“In this race, we are not comparable with BJD because we cannot misuse public money for political gain. They are putting all their efforts to hoodwink voters as it is their last elections,” said a senior leader of the state BJP.
In a statement laced with sarcasm, Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said, “We have failed to provide safe drinking water to our people. But, we are spending crores of rupees in campaigning.”
Both the Centre and the state government are in the habit of spending big on advertising their programmes regardless of whether they were implemented or not, he said. Instead of doing that, they should spend the money on holistic development of society like providing safe drinking water, the Congress leader added.
In his reaction, BJD spokesperson Samir Das said, “To ensure that the benefits of various welfare schemes reach the poor, the state government is undertaking exercises like PEETHA programme.”