Despite successive poll debacles, BJP striving to win 120 seats in 2024 Odisha assembly elections: Party state chief

Despite successive electoral debacles in Odisha, including in the recently concluded panchayat and civic polls, the BJP is striving to win 120 assembly seats in the 147-member House in the 2024 general elections, party state chief Samir Mohanty said.

Mohanty, while visiting a village near Bhubaneswar on Sunday for a party programme, said that 'Mission 120' or aim to secure 120 assembly seats in Odisha was set by former BJP chief and Union Home Minister Amit Shah ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The BJP not only bettered its tally in Odisha assembly from 10 seats in 2014 to 23 in 2019, but also replaced Congress as the principal opposition party in the House, and secured 31 per cent of the votes. It also won eight Lok Sabha seats from the state, up from just one in 2014.

In an interaction with PTI on Monday, Mohanty said, ''People from every nook-and-corner of Odisha are saying that BJP is the only alternative to BJD which has 'overstayed' in power since 2000. We have to work hard for the next 24 months towards realising our goal with a fresh strategy. BJP workers will highlight the welfare projects implemented by the Narendra Modi government.'' ''Congress is no longer a pan-Odisha party, it is only confined to some pockets. The grand old party is losing vote share in every election. If the BJP manages to secure even five per cent of this vote, it will not be difficult to reach our target,'' he said.

Admitting that the BJP was in a weak position in Koraput and Rayagada districts, where the principal contest is between the BJD and Congress, Mohanty, however, asserted that with proper strategy, the saffron party can easily penetrate the tribal hinterland.

He also alleged that BJD and Congress were in a ''secret understanding'' in some areas to check the growth of BJP.

Mohanty claimed that many senior Congress leaders have admitted that Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik decides the course of action in the state Congress. The senior BJP leader said that corruption is the main issue in the BJD government, and even a hapless woman in a remote village has to pay PC (per cent commission) to avail a housing unit meant for the poor.

He exuded confidence that ''good behaviour'' of BJP leaders vis-à-vis ''arrogance'' of tainted BJD leaders who are allegedly involved in corruption and crime cases will reap electoral dividends for the saffron party.

Reacting to the BJP state chief's statement, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said, ''People of Odisha have witnessed the hollowness of BJP's 'Mission 120', which has fallen on its face. It is laughable to raise it again.'' The BJD has swept the entire state in the recent panchayat and civic polls, securing 90 per cent and 89 per cent of the seats respectively. It won 766 of 852 zilla parishad zones, and 76 of 108 posts of chairpersons of civic bodies and all the three mayor's posts.

The BJP, on the other hand, managed to win only 42 zilla parishad zones, and 16 civic body chairpersons' seats. It, however, bagged three civic bodies in the chief minister's home district Ganjam.