The Biju Janata Dal on Sunday took a potshot at the Bharatiya Janata Party, suggesting that the latter was struggling to find candidates for all 147 Assembly seats, as it was yet to announce contenders for any of them.
“It is strange for a national party like BJP not to announce candidates for assembly seats especially when it has already named contestants for all 21 Lok Sabha seats. What we have gathered is that the party does not have candidates for all 147 seats,” said Sasmit Patra, BJD spokesperson.
Mr. Patra said BJP had announced its candidates for Assembly seats for Andhra Pradesh, which is also going to simultaneous polls like Odisha.
“We’re perplexed by the delay. Something is amiss. Either potential candidates are reluctant to run on BJP tickets, or the party lacks a sufficient pool of candidates for the upcoming State assembly elections,” he pointed out.
Mr. Patra said the BJP might be waiting for leaders being rejected by the BJD so that the former would have candidates for all seats.
Using Prashant Jagdev, the sitting MLA of Chilika, as an example, he said, “We had rightfully expelled the leader for the violence he was accused of perpetrating. At that time, the BJP was quick to condemn Mr. Jagdev, labelling him as anti-social. However, the same party has welcomed him into its fold and is even offering leadership role.”
As of now, only BJD has announced names for 72 Assembly seats. Neither BJP nor Congress has announced candidates.
Mr. Patra said the bold claims made by BJP leaders that they had candidates waiting for every Assembly seat was exposed.
