Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], May 18 (ANI): Congress leader Sachin Pilot expressed confidence in the candidates of the Congress party and the INDIA bloc winning in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Odisha.
Pilot said that people in the state have been harbouring the desire of a change in government as Odisha "has had the same government for a long time."
"Odisha has had the same government for a long time now. People want change here. Workers and people say that bureaucracy is very dominant here. There are chit-fund scams, and mining scams here. Big scams have occurred here. ED and CBI are very active across the country but in Odisha, ED-CBI is not very active. There is an understanding between BJP and BJD. So, central agencies don't do much here. People can understand the political understanding between BJP and BJD...I feel that most of our candidates here will win," the Congress leader told ANI on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Pilot also addressed a press conference at the AICC office in Odisha's Bhubaneswar, where he emphasised the Congress party's manifesto saying that it is "being discussed" across the country.
"Looking at the polling so far, it has become clear that the candidates of the Congress party and INDIA alliance are far ahead and the candidates of BJP and NDA alliance are constantly lagging. I got a chance to go to many states as part of electioneering. Kerala, Andhra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, wherever we go one thing has become clear, this election is an election of change. As 10 years have passed, the entire country has felt that we have to change," Pilot said while addressing the press conference.
"The Bharatiya Janata Party government and the NDA government are not able to present their 10-year report card. The promises made in the last 10 years - regarding price rise, employment, corruption, and black money, are failing on all fronts. And even now they are demanding votes for the next 5 years but avoiding the issues. Today, the Congress party's manifesto is being discussed all over the country. And I want to say with great respect that maybe someone will know what is in BJP's manifesto and why it is like this. You have been running the government for 10 years, this was built on a huge majority, yet the public's interests are not met but they are liking the 5 guarantees that we have promised in the manifesto," he added.
The assembly and Lok Sabha polls in the BJD-ruled state are being held across four phases--from May 13 to June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Polling for the first phase was conducted in 28 Assembly seats and four Lok Sabha constituencies on May 13. In the fifth phase, 35 Assembly seats and five Lok Sabha constituencies will vote on May 20, 42 Assembly segments and six Lok Sabha seats on May 25 and the remaining 42 Assembly seats and six Lok Sabha constituencies in the last phase on June 1.
In the last assembly elections in 2019, the BJD won 112 out of 146 seats, while the BJP had to settle for just 23 seats and the Congress finished at 9.
In the Lok Sabha elections in the same year, the BJD mopped up the lion's share of the electoral spoils, with the BJP and the Congress bringing up the rear. The BJD won 12 seats, the BJP finished a close second at 8, and the Congress bagged just a lone seat. (ANI)
