The Rajyasabha deputy chairman election script is still undergoing the decoding exercise when Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday landed in Bhubaneswar reaffirming his party’s aim at target Odisha in the election next year.
He said,” BJP is set to fix double engine in Odisha. All the 36 thousand booths are in the focus of BJP. BJP has started work in 147 assembly and 21 Loksabha constituencies.” This was his first reaction in Odisha after NDA registered win in the prestige election of the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha on August 9 by virtue of BJD’s crucial support.
Dr. Harivansh Narayan Singh became the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha through an exercise of election in which BJD’s 9 vote went in his favor. The event left the leaders in Odisha of both BJD and BJP engaged with media clarifying their respective stand on their relation which has started triggering perception that the two estranged partners are getting closer now.
BJD the broken away partner of NDA voted for the NDA candidate Dr. Harivansh after a telephonic negotiation between its President Naveen Patnaik and Amit Shaha the BJP President. Subsequently Priime MinIster Narendra Modi also telephoned Naveen Patnaik to thank him for the support.
In a bid to ward off the effect of the devloping perception Mr. Pradhan clarified, the need was to snatch the seat of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman from Congress which had been with it for the last 40 years; NDA did that for JDU. And stoked “It could have been an Odia candidate had they tried” obliquely referring to BJD.
However BJD called this response of Dharmaendra Pradhan as a reflection of his “disappointment and frustration”. BJD spokesman Sasmit Patra said Mr Pradhan is misleading the people of Odisha and added as a clarification that BJD had supported the JDU candidate and has maintained its position of equidistant from BJP and Congress.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar who is in Odisha in a three days tour categorically denied any possible poll alliance with BJD. And said in the election for the post of Deputy Chairperson in the Rajya Sabha many parties supported NDA who are not part of it.
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