Bhubaneswar, Mar 23 (PTI) BJP’s Odisha unit will handle poll management work in 36 assembly segments of neighbouring West Bengal, which votes in two phases on April 23 and 29, a senior party leader said.
Odisha BJP chief Manmohan Samal, who was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha, said, “They (West Bengal unit) are looking after the major part of the electioneering. We have been assigned to look after management in only 36 assembly segments, and our people have been deployed in each of the assigned areas.” Samal said the state unit has drawn up a roadmap to actively campaign across six southern districts of the neighbouring state.
He said most of the assembly segments assigned to Odisha BJP are located in Odia-speaking border areas, while six such seats are in North 24 Parganas and three in Kolkata.
Samal said party leaders and ministers from Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts have already started campaigning in West Bengal.
“Our leaders are already in the field, and some of them have been camping in Bengal for over a month. MLAs, MPs and panchayat-level leaders from Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Jajpur districts have also been identified to participate in the campaigns,” he said.
BJP MLA Bhaskar Madhei said he has been campaigning in Gopiballavpur area of Jhargram district, located along the Odisha–Jharkhand border.
“I have friends and relatives in that area,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Higher Education Minister Suryabanshi Suraj and Nilgiri MLA Santosh Khatua have undertaken several visits to West Bengal and attended election-related meetings.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, addressing rallies in the neighbouring state on March 10, had appealed to people to install a “double-engine” government.
He also emphasised bringing “parivartan” (change) in West Bengal and accused the TMC of running a corrupt government.
Of the 28 MLAs from the four northern districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar, the BJP has 18 members. The party also holds all four Lok Sabha seats in the region. PTI AAM AAM MNB
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