Bhubaneswar, Aug 23: Though no formal announcement has yet been made for early elections in Odisha, all three major political parties in the state have said that they are fully prepared and confident enough to perform well.
Senior BJD MLA Amar Prasad Satpathy has not ruled out the possibility of early Assembly elections in Odisha.
“It can’t be ruled out that Odisha will go for early Assembly elections along with four other states in December. However, Chief Minister and party president Naveen Patnaik will take a final call on this,” he added.
On the other hand, former union minister and Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi said, “Separate elections for Assembly and Lok Sabha will entail significant expenditure and hamper development works because of the imposition of a model code of conduct. “But the BJP is always prepared to face early elections”.
The former union minister also questioned the rationale behind conducting early Assembly elections. If a situation has arisen for early elections in the state, it signifies that the government mechanism has collapsed. In such a case, President Rule should be imposed instead of an early election.
“The early election in the state depends on Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He has good terms with the BJD. He may agree for it to appease Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik,” Congress whip in the Assembly Taraprasad Bahinipati told media persons.
The state Congress is also prepared for early elections. Organizational meetings are being held for the last three days in the presence of national leaders to prepare the party for the polls, he added.
