It arguably could not have been a coincidence that the Odisha unit of BJP chose the same venue – the Exhibition Ground in Bhubaneswar -where Naveen took oath as CM for the fifth time, to felicitate its newly-elected MLAs and MPs of the State.
The saffron party might have failed in its Mission-120 in Odisha but it has taken giant strides as compared to the 2014 general elections and has made inroads into the ruling-BJD’s turf to claim 8 MP and 23 MLA seats in 2019. And today’s felicitation in presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Sarangi was equal parts a celebration of that success and a show of strength.
After darshan of Lord Jagannath in Puri, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pratap Sarangi and all the elected MPs and MLAs were given a rousing welcome by party workers and leaders during the grand felicitation ceremony.
Senior leaders of BJP including party’s national vice president Baijayant Panda, senior leader Damodar Rout, Bijoy Mohapatra, Sambit Patra, party’s State In-charge Arun Singh were also present on the occasion.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, “We should not get complacent after this performance because until a politician is not able to usher a political system under his ideology, the struggle should continue.”