Bhubaneswar, March 29 (IANS) The Biju Janata Dal will win the coming Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Odisha handsomely, prominent party leader Baijayant 'Jay' Panda has said.
"By all indications, our prospects are indeed looking very good," the 50-year-old Panda told IANS.
Panda occasionally uses single-engine helicopter to travel. A licensed pilot, he himself pilots the chopper. Unlike many politicians, Panda makes it a point to extensively travel in his constituency, reaching out to his constituents in good and bad times.
Polling for the state's 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats will be held simultaneously April 10 and 17. The BJD, which has ruled Odisha since 2000, won 103 assembly and 14 Lok Sabha seats in 2009.
An opinion poll about a fortnight ago predicted that the BJD could get the lion's share of the state's 17 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party with three seats and one seat respectively.
"I don't want to speculate on the number of seats we will get this time. But I expect we will do even better than last time," said Panda, a two-time Rajya Sabha member and a member of the outgoing Lok Sabha.
He is seeking a second term from the Kendrapada Lok Sabha constituency.
Panda said people will vote for the BJD because governance in the state had got better and better since the party came to power in 2000. In the past decade, the economy has grown at nearly double digits, Panda said. Odisha has also seen the maximum drop in poverty among all states in the entire country, he said.
"There has been a significant improvement in social indicators like primary education and infant and maternal mortality and so on," said Panda, who holds degrees in engineering and management in communications from Michigan Technological University in the US.
"Despite the BJD being in government for three terms, all indicators are that it is again going to win handsomely," said Panda.
The tech-savvy Panda extensively uses short message service (SMS) to connect with people and is also very active on social media.
Panda, who worked in the corporate sector before joining politics, faces five candidates in Kendrapada, including Dharanidhar Nayak of the Congress and the BJP's Bishu Prasad Das.
But he is confident of winning again.
"My achievement has been to get long-proposed major infrastructure projects off the ground and into the construction stage.
"Construction of our first railway line has started, as has the Cuttack-Chandbali Expressway. Many other small and medium infrastructure projects are either under construction or have been completed."
He said the first major industrial estate had been notified in his constituency and both private and public sector firms were showing keen interest.
Natasa Stankovic: After coming to Mumbai, Natasha was seen with her friend Alexander Alex, fans said- she should be happy
Natasha Stankovic and Hardik Pandya split after announcing their divorce in July this year. Meanwhile, the latter sparked dating rumors with British singer Jasmine Walia. Natasha recently made
Corona threat in the country and the world: 11 new cases of Omicron sub-variant were found in the country; WHO said- XBB.1.5 now spread in 29 countries
With the increase in the cases of corona in China, the danger of spreading the infection is also looming in countries like India, Pakistan, and America. Meanwhile, 11 new cases of Omicron's
WHO vaccine update: Coveshield is the 9th vaccine in the world to gain approval, know the status of Corona vaccine being made worldwide
There are currently 232 corona vaccines in operation worldwide. According to the WHO vaccine landscape, there are 172 vaccines in pre-clinical trials. That is, these vaccines are currently being
After the government, Uddhav VS Shinde on Dahi Handi: Uddhav faction will do the biggest program in Shinde's stronghold Thane, Eknath faction put up a flurry of rewards
In Maharashtra, the battle for political possession has also started on Dahi Handi, which is held on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami. After snatching the government from Uddhav Thackeray, now
Kiran Bedi to File Nomination
New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS) Kiran Bedi, BJP's chief ministerial candidate in Delhi, will file her nomination Wednesday from the Krishna Nagar constituency here.Party sources said Bedi will file the
Money laundering case: Satyendar Jain challenged the order of the High Court, now the Supreme Court sent notice to ED
The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on AAP leader Satyendar Jain's plea challenging the Delhi High Court order. A bench of Justice MR Shah and Justice Krishna
Almost 80 percent turnout in Bengal, voters still in queue
Kolkata, April 17 (IANS) Amid enthusiasm and long queues, around 80 percent voters exercised their franchise in the four West Bengal constituencies that went to the polls in the first phase of the
Country comes out of technical recession: GST collection sets record for GDP growth of 0.4%, these are 5 reasons for the third quarter boom
The Covid-19 has a profound adverse impact on the Indian economy. The reason for this is that there has been a decline in the economy in the first two quarters of the current financial year. Due to
Ukraine accuses Putin of ceasefire violation: said- troops fired rockets despite the announcement, Russia refutes claims
Ukraine has accused Russia of violating the ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday night that his army would not attack Ukraine on January 6 and 7. Putin has taken this
Engineer, two others held for car robbery
Gurgaon, Jan 28 (IANS) Three people, including an engineer, have been arrested here for robbing a car's passengers and taking away their car, police said Wednesday.Sumit Kumar, 32, a civil
