BJP to launch protests in Odisha tomorrow against Naveen Govt

Trying to emerge as a "strong alternative" to the ruling BJD in Odisha, BJP will launch state wide protests against the Naveen Patnaik government tomorrow, days after the vehicle carrying Union Minister Santosh Gangwar was attacked by alleged BJD supporters.
"The attack was pre-planned as the BJD is jittery over the rise of BJP. We are fighting to become a strong alternative to the ruling party. Congress there is in terminal decline," BJP General Secretary and the state in-charge Arun Singh said today.
It was a "murderous" attack aimed at scuttling the party's programmes in the state, he told reporters.

Gangwar along with Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and former Jharkhand Chief Minister was in Bargarh district last week to participate in a programme to observe the second anniversary of the Modi government.
While the party will hold protests across all blocks tomorrow, it has planned an agitation in state capital Bhubaneswar on July 4.
There has been reports that the BJP is working to keep the BJD in good humour as it needs its support to push its legislative agenda in Parliament, especially in the Rajya Sabha, but party leaders insisted that they see the state as a "bright" prospect in 2019, when both the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls are due.

BJP had received over 22 per cent of votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. It could win only one seat and came second on nine.
Congress had secure more vote share but the saffron party believes that it can emerge as the principal challenger to the BJD, replacing Congress.