BJP appears to have set its eye on the 2019 elections in Odisha.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Saturday he is not worried over national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar by BJP, whose leaders have claimed that the party would emerge victorious in the next assembly election.
"Least bothered ... I am not at all worried," said Patnaik, also the president of ruling Biju Janata Dal, in reply to a query.
To another question, the chief minister said he would not be able to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held a roadshow in Bhubaneswar on Saturday evening after reaching the city to attend the BJP national executive here.
Patnaik's statement came at a time when top BJP leaders are in an upbeat mood after the party's impressive win in the recent assembly elections, particularly in Uttar Pradesh. The party now appears to have set its eye on the 2019 elections in Odisha.
Earlier too Patnaik had said the BJP national executive, being held in the state after a gap of two decades, would have no impact on the people of Odisha. "I think it (the BJP meet) will not have any impact on the people of Odisha," he had said.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said his party, which had done well in the recent rural elections in Odisha, would try to come to power in the state in the next election. "We will try to come to power in Odisha in 2019 (when the assembly poll is due)," Naidu, who is here to attend the national executive meeting, told reporters.
The party appears to be bubbling with confidence in wake of its impressive show in the recent panchayat elections in Odisha. The BJP had secured 297 zilla parishad seats while the Congress, the main opposition party, had won just 60. The ruling BJD had, however, maintained its supremacy capturing 473 zilla parishad seats.
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