Naveen Patnaik calls for bettering 2019 performance

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has called upon BJD workers to work towards improving the party's performance in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, due next year, as compared to 2019.

The BJD also decided to train 200 party workers in each Assembly segment to conduct door-to-door campaign for the polls. The decision was taken during a meeting BJD president Naveen had with the party's district observers, select MLAs and MPs on Monday evening.

The BJD MLA and former minister Padmanabha Behera said the Chief Minister has asked all party workers and leaders to strive towards better performance of the party in next year's general elections as compared to the 2019 polls.

Padmanabha, who is also an observer for some districts, said the Chief Minister has also reviewed the present political situation in the State. The MLA said it was decided that 200 workers from each Assembly segment will be trained to conduct door-to-door campaign.

''The BJD will organise its annual padayatra from Gandhi Jayanti onwards, during which the party workers will visit each household and inform people about the schemes launched by the Naveen Patnaik government,'' Padmanabha said.

Those trained workers will then educate others in the village level to highlight the BJP government's works among the people, he said.

''The regional party, which had won 12 of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 113 of 147 Assembly seats in Odisha in 2019, is all set to secure more seats as the people of Odisha have accepted Naveen as their leader who stands by them in all situations,'' BJD vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra said.

The BJD, which had won 20 of the 21 seats in the 2014 elections, lost eight seats to the BJP in the 2019 polls. Its vote share also dipped by 1.3 per cent in the 2019 elections as compared to the 2014 polls.

On the other hand, the Opposition BJP, which had bagged only one seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, improved its tally to eight in 2019. Its vote share also improved to 38.4 per cent, which was 16.9 per cent more than the previous election. The BJP grew at the cost of Congress's decline, which though managing to win one seat, sustained a vote share loss of 12.2 per cent in 2019 as compared to 2014. ''The BJD leadership is looking forward to repeating its 2014 performance,'' a party insider said.