When BJP president Amit Shah decided to strengthen the party’s organisation in Odisha, one of the states he set as a target for expanding the party’s growth, he picked BJP national general secretary Arun Singh, one of his trusted organisation leader, as the party’s in-charge for the state. Singh tells LIZ MATHEW how the BJP increased its tally from one Lok Sabha seat in Odisha in 2014 to eight this time.
In Odisha, it was Narendra Modi’s name and his popularity that worked most for BJP. Then (come) the strength of the organisation and quality of Lok Sabha candidates. The Modi wave worked wonders for us.
We were expecting more seats, but our vote share has seen a huge jump — it was 21.5 per cent in the last Lok Sabha polls; it is 38.6 per cent this time. We were expecting more (seats), including Puri and Kendrapara. In Kendrapara, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik camped for three days and unleashed his government machinery there.