The Bharatiya Janata Party, which had to contend with leaders quitting the party like its principal political opponent BJD, on Tuesday named the candidates for 21 more Assembly seats in Odisha after much winnability deliberation.
While the BJP has fielded its candidates on all the 21 parliamentary seats in the state, the BJD has so far released the names of 20 nominees for the Lok Sabha elections.
On the other hand, the BJP has already declared candidates for the all 21 LS seats while 112 nominees have been announced by the party for the 147 seats.
The assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the coastal state will be held simultaneously in four phases on May 13, 20, 25, and June 1.
Former Congress MLA K Suryo Rao quit the party to join the BJD on Saturday as former Biju Janata Dal MLA from Bhubaneswar (North) Priyadarshi Mishra resigned from the party to join the BJP.
Much to the discomfiture of the two parties, the Congress went hammer and tongs terming it the betrayal of people’s mandate by the BJD that exposes the deep-rooted nexus between the two linked to the mining lobby.
Om Birla's name was proposed by PM Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha and was supported by all major parties including Congress, TMC, DMK and BJD.
“Let us see how it works out in parliament, we are keen to form a bloc of over 100 MPs with as many parties including TRS, DMK and others to present various issues. Individually, the parties concerned do not have the numbers to effectively do so, hence the idea to form a bloc,” said BJD parliamentary party leader Pinaki Mishra.
According to the official reason cited, all BJD MLAs are to take oath in the Odisha Assembly on Thursday in the presence of the CM, and hence he is unable to go to Delhi
In his message to the Odisha CM, the PM assured all cooperation from the Centre to the developmental plans of the state.
