Odisha Zila Parishad Polls: Results for 841 of 849 have been declared by Election Commission. (file)
The BJP has shunted out the Congress from the position of the principal opposition party in the local bodies of Odisha - increasing its tally from 36 to 297 Zilla Parishads. So far, results for 841 of the 849 Zilla Parishad elections have been declared by the Election Commission. The ruling BJD, as expected, has maintained lead, but its share has come down to 468. The Congress, till now the principal Opposition party in the state, won only 60 local bodies.
The BJD says this will have no bearing on the Assembly and Parliamentary elections. The results has been "wrongly interpreted by media people and also BJP leaders," said Damodar Raut, Odisha's Cooperatives and Excise Minister.
But the BJP is using the results to mobilise and motivate cadres for the 2019 general elections battle.
Union Minister for Oil and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, who led the campaign, ascribed the success to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the results show there is support for demonetisation among the people.
"There is a huge anti-incumbency against the current government. Due to their failure, incompetence, misgovernance and corruption, people have started rejecting them in a big way and the BJP is emerging as the big alternative in the state," Mr. Pradhan told NDTV.
A senior BJD minister told NDTV that the BJP had used a lot of money and that is why they have shown an improvement in their tally. While not nervous, the BJD is wary of the BJP's growing presence in the state.
"Our voteshare has gone up to more than 50%," said party legislator Anubhav Pattanaik. The Congress's voteshare, he said, is declining. "That is why the BJP voteshare has increased to a certain level and there are some disgruntled workers in our party in certain places who helped them which we are looking at," he added.
The Congress has its task cut out. But the party is putting on a brave face, using the BJD's logic that a good performance in the Zilla Parishad elections is no guarantee of doing well in polls. Odisha's Leader of Opposition Narsing Mishra told NDTV: "Probably the BJP's memory is short. They should go back to 2007. What is the number they secured or they won in Zilla Parishad elections then? Zilla Parishad election is no reflection of the general election to the assembly and Parliament."
The BJP sees the results as an opportunity to make inroads in Odisha, a state where it has been playing second fiddle to ally BJD till they fell out. It wants to replicate its performance of Maharashtra and emerge as the largest political force. In the recent municipal elections in Maharashtra, the BJP had emerged the real winner, leaving the Shiv Sena, which had been dominating these elections, with a narrow margin.