BJD may dissolve Odisha Assembly, if Narendra Modi goes for early polls

By Odisha bureau nnNEW DELHI:The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) likely to dissolve the Odisha Assembly and go for polls early, if the Narendra Modi government at Centre dissolves the Lok Sabha early. This was hinted by BJD spokesperson Arun Sahoo.nn?The manner in which this issue is raging in the media and among the masses as well as the intelligentsia, it is likely that the general elections will be proponed. Election Commission?s preparedness as well as the Centre?s ?one nation, one election? also hints of early polls,? said Sahoo.nnStating that there is no problem in going for early polls? Sahoo observed that BJD has already gone for simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls earlier. ?BJD is prepared for the early elections. BJD has already expressed its stand on the issue before the Election Commission,? he said.nn?As we received information that there will be early elections, we also gave our consent as our due is in April. We have told that are prepared to fight an early election. We have given this in writing to the Election Commission. We can go for it in six months or even before,? BJD vice-president Surya Narayan Patro said.nnReacting to this, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra said, ?The BJP at the Centre is keen on early elections because they have realised that they will suffer a drubbing in the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan Assembly polls due this year.?nn?As Naveen Babu (Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister of Odisha) always stands by BJP during its crisis and also BJP does the same for the BJD government, it is natural that both are favouring early polls in Odisha. We have concrete information that the BJP wants to hold early elections in as many as 12 states,? Mishra added.nnAdvocating simultaneous polls in the country, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, ?Simultaneous election started in Odisha way back in 2004. The Centre will hold the elections at an appropriate time in 2019 and if Odisha wants it earlier then we have no problems.?