Bhubaneswar: After Congress, it is now Biju Janata Dal, the ruling party in Odisha is to select party candidates for the 2019 elections well in advance.
The chief minister and the BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik said the BJD is seriously considering early selection of party candidates for the general elections due next year.
“We are looking seriously into the matter. A decision will be taken within the party forum,” Patnaik Sunday told reporters soon after his return here from a five-day visit to Delhi.
He was reacting to queries about the party’s strategy following moves of the Congress and the BJP to select their candidates, for the polls due next year, well in advance.
In Odisha the state assembly elections are due along with the Lok Sabha in 2019.
The Congress senior leader and Odisha in-charge AICC general secretary, Jitendra Singh, recently had said that the party would select its candidates for the polls within two months time.
The chief minister also voiced confidence that his suggestion for inclusion of Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of non-violence in the preamble of Indian Constitution would be accepted.
“I am certainly very hopeful (about his suggestion being accepted),” Patnaik said responding to a query.
During his Delhi visit, Patnaik attended the first meeting of the National Committee for Commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on May 2 and called for inclusion of non-violence in the preamble of the Constitution as a tribute to the father of the nation.
“I had suggested that non-violence should be included in the preamble of the Constitution as a mark of respect to Mahatma Gandhi,” the chief minister said.
Quoting Mahatma Gandhi’s doctrine of non-violence, Patnaik during the meeting held on May 2 had said that progress cannot be achieved without peace and “progress requires the defeat of those who divide society on basis of class, caste and religion”.
