BJP Odisha vice-president Ashok Sahu has blamed the party State leadership for the party’s defeat in the Kandhamal lok Sabha by-election.
Sahu, who was an aspirant for the party’s ticket for the bypoll, on Tuesday told the media that the party State leadership’s wrong approach was responsible for the party’s poor performance in Kandhamal despite the Modi wave that led to the BJP’s spectacular electoral victories in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Sahu, who had unsuccessfully contested from the Kandhamal lS seat in the general elections in April this year, seems to have turned a dissident in the party for being denied party nomination for the bypoll.
He on Tuesday gave vent to his utter dissatisfaction over Rudra Madhab Ray being “overnight” chosen as the party candidate for the bypoll. Ray, a dismissed BJD man, was allotted the ticket just a day after being inducted into the BJP, Sahu pointed out.
He stated that the BJP applied all its might in terms of logistics and manpower in Kandhamal but failed to pull off an impressive result even though the Modi magic is prevalent elsewhere in the country. In this byelection, the party added only 30,000 votes to its April election tally, he further pointed out.
Sahu sought to claim that the increased number of BJP votes was mainly due to a substantial 25.000 votes it polled in the Bhanjnagar Assembly segment, where, he said he had worked in many villages last year when the Cyclone Phailin hit the area.
Sahu called for a “self-introspection” among the BJP State leaders to realise why the party is failing to cash in on the Modi factor in Odisha.