Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, opposition BJP and Congress leaders from Odisha have rushed to Delhi to meet their party high commands to discuss strategies to take on the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
While a delegation of MLAs and leaders led by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattnayak met AICC president Malikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday, the BJP delegation comprising 22 MLAs and eight MPs are scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday evening.
After meeting the Odisha Congress leaders, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on X, “People of Odisha are fed up with corruption, unemployment, inflation, farm distress and ill treatment to tribals and weaker sections. The BJD had promised to transform Odisha, but pushed the state backwards. It is also hand-in-glove with the BJP and the Modi Govt.”
“Congress has redoubled the efforts in strengthening our organisation and in raising people-friendly issues. We held an important meeting with leaders of @INCOdisha in this regard,” he said.
The Odisha BJP leaders are also scheduled to meet party’s national president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and discuss the 2024 poll strategy, BJP state president Manmohan Samal, who is leading the delegation to Delhi, said. Leader of Opposition Jaynarayan Mishra is also part of the delegation.
Samal said the BJP will work out a separate strategy for Odisha as the situation here is different from that of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“The BJD has misled the people of Odisha in three previous elections claiming it has good relations with the BJP at the central level. Now, a specific strategy needs to be place for defusing this mischief,” Samal said.
During the proposed meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP MLAs will raise the issue of alleged hijacking of central schemes by the state government.
“We will discuss the party’s current status, organisational strength in Odisha and how the Patnaik government has been misleading the people for 24 years,” Mishra said before leaving for Delhi.
“It is natural that national parties will consult their leaders in Delhi before polls. It will have no impact on the people of Odisha. People in our state continue to bless Patnaik and they will vote for BJD in the next elections for its good work,” said BJD vice-president and MLA Debi Prasad Mishra.
PTI
