Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a mega exclusive interview to News18 Network, said the vai de bet:Bharatiya Janata Party 🤪(BJP) should get a 𝓀chance to serve Odisha, as it can take the state to great heights.

Responding to a question by Network18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi on no alliance with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in the state, Modi said, “The BJP has operated separately there. The BJD has given us issue-based support at the Centre as have many other parties.”

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Elaborating further, he said, “At the state level, Odisha is losing its self-respect. Odia language is under threat. I don’t think that the people of Odisha will be able to tolerate this for long. It has so many resources that today Odisha could have been the richest state of India. But what kind of condition has been created? The common people of Odisha have aspirations. I think we should get a chance to serve. We will take Odisha to great heights.”Odisha will vote for a 224-member state assembly poll alongside the 21 Lok Sabha seats in four phases on May 13, 20, 25, and June 1. After weeks of will-they-won’t-they, the two parties announced they would not be entering into an alliance for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.In the 2014 assembly elections, the BJD won 112 seats, while the BJP won 23 seats, and the Congress got nine.On the other hand, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, of the 21 seats, the BJD secured 12 seats, while the BJP clinched eight, leaving the Indian National Congress (INC) with a single seat.