Bhubaneswar, May 4 Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the BJP candidate for Odisha's Sambalpur constituency, on Friday exuded confidence that his party will win all the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Addressing a press meet here, the Union Minister said, "Last time, the BJP secured 38 per cent votes and our opponent got 42 per cent. The difference was just four per cent and we won eight Lok Sabha seats. I believe this time the Bharatiya Janata Party is going to win all 21 seats in Odisha."
The BJP leader further claimed that the party will also form government in the state by winning maximum Assembly seats.
He said Odisha had received a "meagre Rs 3 lakh crore during the Congress rule at the Centre between 2004 and 2014"; while in the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi government, the state received "around Rs 18 lakh crore".
Union Minister Pradhan claimed that despite the receipt of huge amounts of financial aid from the Centre, several places in the state lack drinking water and irrigation facilities, the school dropout rate in the state is high and the cases of malnutrition are also highest.
The ruling BJD, on the other hand, has questioned the BJP leaders about the steps taken by them to safeguard the pride of Odisha.
"The Central government had spent crores for the promotion of Sanskrit, Malayalam, Telugu Tamil, (and) Kannada languages. The BJP leaders should answer what steps they have taken for the development of the Odia language," asked senior BJD leader, Sanjay Das Burma.
The BJD also targeted state BJP leaders over the "rejection of state government's proposal to the Central government seeking classical tag for Odissi music".
The simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha will be held in four phases from May 13 to June 1 while the results of both will be out on June 4.
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will reach Bhubaneswar on Saturday on a two-day visit to the state. He is likely to participate in campaign programmes in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Sambalpur. Similarly, BJP President J.P. Nadda is scheduled to visit Odisha on May 5 and take part in two meetings in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
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