Amit Shah's 'dream' of winning Odisha will never be fulfilled, says BJD; claims nobody knows BJP president in state

Bhubaneswar: BJD leaders on Saturday ridiculed BJP president Amit Shah’s statement and claimed that the saffron party’s “dream” of forming the government Odisha will never be fulfilled even though it has won in Tripura and other north eastern states. [caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BJP chief Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] Patro was reacting to Shah’s statement in Delhi that BJP’s golden period will start when it forms government in Odisha, West Bengal and Kerala. Shah’s statement has not gone down well with the BJD leaders and ministers who are celebrating defeat of BJP in the recently concluded by-poll in Bijepur Assembly seat. Amit Shah had confidently told that his party will win the Bijepur by-elections, but it did not happen. Therefore, there is no chance of BJP coming to power in 2019 assembly elections in Odisha," BJD Vice-president and minister SN Patro said. Shah had in September last year set an ambitious ‘Mission 120’ of winning at least 120 of the 147 assembly seats in Odisha after BJP registered unexpected success in the rural polls. “Only Naveen Patnaik is popular in Odisha. Nobody knows Shah in Odisha. The BJP is passing through a silver period but it will not reach its golden era. His (Shah) desire of BJP forming government in Odisha will never be fulfilled,” Odisha’s Panchayati Raj Minister Pradeep Maharathy told reporters. Maharathy, a veteran BJD leader in coastal Puri district, had announced before the results of the Bijepur by-polls were announced that he would resign from the ministry if BJP won the seat. BJD candidate Rita Sahu won the Bijepur seat over a margin of 41,932 votes.