90 Per Cent Possibility of PM Modi Fighting Polls From Puri, Says Odisha BJP Lawmaker Amid Speculation

Bhubaneswar: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and MLA Pradip Purohit on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to contest the upcoming general elections from Odisha’s Puri constituency.

“One cannot rule out the prime minister contesting from Puri. There is 90 per cent possibility of the PM contesting from Puri seat,” Purohit told reporters, only a few days after PM Modi said that the issue was only being created by the media. 

Earlier, state BJP president Basant Panda had said that the Odisha unit of the party has proposed to field the prime minister from Puri.

Of the seven assembly segments under the Puri Lok Sabha constituency, the Biju Janata Dal holds six while the BJP has only one — Chilika.

The ruling BJD headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has had a continued win in the constituency for the last 20 years.

In the 2014 elections, BJD’s Pinaki Mishra won from the Puri seat by bagging 50.33 per cent votes. Stating that Modi’s possible candidature from the state will have no impact on the people of Odisha, BJD spokesman Sasmit Patra said: “Let the Prime Minister himself and his party make it clear from where Modi will contest.”

Last month the prime minister visited Odisha to inaugurate several infrastructural projects. He is scheduled to visit Mayurbhanj district on January 5 and Bolangir district on January 16.