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Saturday, Jun 14, 2008
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BJP gets into election mode

Special Correspondent

Eight-member panel obtains feedback from party office-bearers

The old seat-sharing arrangement between the BJD and BJP will remain in force
The party’s final blueprint to be prepared soon

BHUBANESWAR: With other parties making preparations for the coming polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party State unit too has started the process to keep itself ready for the forthcoming electoral battles.

As delimitation of both Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies had posed new challenges for all the parties, the Election Management Committee of the BJP held a two-day meeting to gather information about its organisational strength and support base in different constituencies in the changed set up.

The eight-member committee, which met here on Thursday and Friday, collected feedback from the party office-bearers in all the 30 districts. Apart from the president and secretaries of the party’s district units, the two-day meeting was also attended by all party MPs and legislators.

As it was almost certain that the old seat-sharing arrangement between the BJD and BJP will remain in force in the coming polls, the BJP leaders made efforts to assess as to in which constituencies their party had a better chance of winning the polls.

Out of the 147 Assembly seats, the BJD has been contesting in 84 places and the BJP in 63. Similarly, out of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats, the BJD has been contesting in 12 and BJP in nine.

“Though the BJD and the BJP will have the same number of seats to contest the coming polls, they would have to go in for swapping of some seats to ensure victory of the alliance in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls,” a senior BJP leader told The Hindu after the meeting.

The leader said that the party’s Election Management Committee will hold at least two more similar meetings in the coming days to prepare a final blueprint having details about the party’s winning prospects in various seats as well as probable candidates.

The document will enable the party leaders to ensure smooth swapping of the seats when the matter is discussed with the BJD top brass, the leader said. As regards the BJD, many leaders of the party have started saying that they would demand more seats. But this may not finally happen as the BJP leaders will have the data ready with them to show that BJD cannot win without support.

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