BJP will keep an open mind, Jay Panda on BJDs possibility of joining NDA

Bijayant Jay Panda who contested from his long-time constituency Kendrapara in Odisha revealed in a recent interview that the BJP president Amit Shah is confident of getting more than 300 seats and the party will keep an open mind if BJD wants to join the NDA.

New Delhi: Party vice president of the BJP, Baijayant Jay Panda in a recent interview revealed, the Bhartiya Janata Party will keep an open mind if other parties want to join their coalition seeing the exit polls that show are in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's favor.

When asked by the media if BJD will support NDA, Panda replied, "My Party president Amit Shah is confident that we are getting more than 300 seats. We will form the government with NDA allies, if other parties seeing the national mood want to also join in, I think, BJP will keep an open mind."

"All exit polls are showing BJP has dramatically grown in Odisha. BJP will form the government in Odisha and get a majority in Lok Sabha. In Odisha, people have seen the Modi government taking strong political decisions, which were not easy, whether on economic or security front. Naveen Patnaik has been the Chief Minister for 19 years, but in the last five years people have witnessed a dramatic departure of his party's image and reputation due to rising crime and corruption in the state," he added.

Replying to a question on who will be the Chief Minister if BJP gets a majority in Odisha, Panda said, "I joined BJP after soul searching. I am happy to carry out whatever responsibility the party gives me. Whether, it is my friend Devendra Pradhan, KV Singh Deo or Pratap Sarangi, the good thing is BJP has a lot of talent, whoever takes whichever responsibility, we are going to cooperate with each other."

He further cornered Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, saying that he had attacked him personally in several interviews.

"The BJD has long considered that Kendrapara is their seat, I represented the seat as a BJD member. People have seen how I was eliminated and removed from BJD. For whatsoever reason, it is s a little unusual that Patnaik seemed to focus extra on Kendrapara and attacked me personally in many interviews. But then, I had to give a strong response to the allegations leveled against me. He spent two days in Kendrapara but he neglected other seats where campaigning was underway," he remarked.

Speaking about the meeting of 21 opposition leaders with Election Commission in the national capital, Panda said: "It has become a tradition that losing parties claim that EVMs are being tampered with and there is some manipulation. Sometimes, they go to court and hold a press conference. It is very sad this kind of cynical approach is being followed."

"When BJP lost assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other party leaders humbly accepted people's mandate. At that time, they had no issues with EVMs but suddenly they are criticizing EC," he added.

On Congress accusing BJP of destabilizing their governments in states of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, the BJP vice-president said his party does not need to destabilize any government.

"We do not need to destabilize anyone. You all know how they all are stitched together -- not having a majority, having an alliance post-poll with parties whom they bitterly fought with during elections. So these are not stable governments, to begin with, these are inherently unable structure, they might drag for some time but it is not logical to expect that they will continue to be stable for a long term," he added.

Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath have asserted that Congress has a majority in Madhya Pradesh Assembly and accused the opposition BJP of "unnecessarily" creating problems since it feared its scams will be exposed if Kamal Nath government stays in power.

Elections for 542 Lok Sabha seats were held between April 11 and May 19 with the counting of votes scheduled for May 23.