BJP will come to power in 2019 in Odisha: Arun Singh

‘BJD to suffer from trust-deficit syndrome’

BJP’s Odisha Pravari and national membership campaign co in-charge Arun Singh spoke to Hemanta Kumar Pradhan of The Pioneer on party’s roadmap in the State.

Do you think BJP will come to power in 2019?

We are now busy in strengthening our party from grassroots level so that we can hit our target in a more organised way. We have more than three lakh members in the State and we target to achieve the magic number of 30 lakh to create our committed vote bank. If we get the magic number, we will be the number one party in the State.

Also, we are proceeding towards our goal in a planned way. Our party is focusing on the Panchayati Raj election to be held 2017 in order to show our strength before the general election of 2019. The BJP would take benefit out of the people’s anger against BJD’s misrule. Some BJD leaders were arrested and several others are under CBI scanner in the chit fund scam. Mining, land and house allotment scams have also left the ruling party red-faced. Due to all these scams, the BJD is going to suffer from trust-deficit syndrome in the State. Our party is going to be a political alternative in Odisha as the BJD and Congress are demoralised and frustrated respectively.

Do you feel Modi magic will work here?

If the BJP increased its seats from four to 47 in the Haryana Assembly

elections then why not in Odisha? We will increase our seats from 10 to 120 in the next Assembly polls. Modi magic will work surely. The Haryana model of campaign can be replicated in Odisha.

Once you had told to mediapersons that many leaders from other parties, including BJD and Congress, would join your party. Is it true?

Yes, it’s true. Some top leaders in the BJD have expressed their desire to come to our party fold. They are in touch with us. I’ll reveal the names of the leaders at an appropriate time. Just wait and watch what BJP is doing in near future.

How your party is prepared to continue membership drive in State? Do you think people will turn up according to your plan?

As 2015 is our organisational year, we will observe our party’s

Sangathan Parva this year to renew membership of existing basic or active members and will also add new members to our party fold. We will also restructure the party structure from the grassroots level like the layer of city in urban areas and block in rural areas. The membership drive will continue till March 31, 2015.

You know, youth inclination towards the party is tremendous. The youth love Modiji for his development agenda. We are number one party in the country and are going to be the number one party in the world very soon. I’m confident enough to get good response from the people of the State who are fed up with BJD’s autocratic rule. Our initial membership drive has received good reaction from the people. We will raise important issues of the people at the State and the Central levels and will hit the streets if needed. We will corner the State Government for the welfare of society.

According to the last election results, your party’s base is not strong in coastal area unlike western Odisha. How you can strengthen your base here?

In western Odisha, we are strong. Our vote percentage is high in the region. Still, we are trying to convert our vote share into seats.

We will raise several issues, including distress sale of paddy, farmer suicide, distress migration, jaundice in Sambalpur and starvation death in Nuapada and will promote other popular agitations against the State Government.

Yes, our performance in the last elections was not good in coastal region, but we are now strengthening our base in the area. We are focusing upon the grassroots level leaders to win the confidence of people. Our party is taking several steps to create genuine members to strengthen our party. Hope we will do better in the next elections.

It was a long perception that your party is suffering from ego-clash between senior leaders. How you address the internal issues?

No, not at all. Our senior leaders have already worked at different rallies and assignments unitedly without any ego clash. They are working for the welfare of the people of the State. The youth leaders are working under the guidance of seniors in the party. Our party is united and strong now.

It is seen that some political party workers are indulged in bad practices. Do you have any mechanism to train the workers?

Yes it’s happening, but our party is very conscious in the matter. It is very important to train the party workers because their bad behaviour may ruin the party image in the public. Our national leaders have planned to train 15 lakh workers after the membership drive. We are going to train one lakh members between June and August this year about party’s ideologies, party icons, history of organisation, NDA Government’s achievement and behavioural practices.

The interview was published in The Pioneer English daily on January 12, 2015

http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/bjd-to-suffer-from-trust-deficit-syndrome.html