BJD, BJP, Congress hopeful of winning Assembly election

Ahead of BJP president Amit Shah's three-day visit to Odisha from Wednesday, the ruling Biju Janata Dal today exuded confidence that it would win in 123 of the 147 seats in the State Assembly.
BJD vice-president and Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister SN Patro made the claim in a reply to Shah's statement that the saffron party would secure 120 seats in the next assembly elections in 2019.
"Though our party is targeting to win all the 147 assembly seats, but as per my assessment BJD is confident of winning in 123 seats," Patro told reporters here.
Patro said that the Janata Dal had won 123 seats under the leadership of Biju Patnaik (father of Naveen Patnaik) in 1990.

"The BJD will repeat the same," Patro said.
Shah, during his previous visit to the state in July, had set Mission-120 target.

The state unit of BJP, however, rejected Patro's claim and maintained that Amit Shah's calculation had never gone. "We are confident of achieving our Mission-120," said State BJP Spokesperson Golak Mohapatra.
According to BJP state president Basant Panda, party president Shah will arrive here at around 1 pm on Wednesday and attend the 'Sankalpa Siddhi' meeting on Friday during his three-day visit to the state.
Senior Congress leader and former minister Suresh Routray said, "The Congress is confident of winning 85 seats in the 2019 Assembly elections.