Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Saturday said the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) defeat in Delhi will not have any impact on Odisha politics and asserted that the regional parties continue to remain a strong force in the Indian political space. The BJD’s coordination and activities committee chairman, Debi Prasad Mishra, said the AAP losing polls in Delhi is “not the end of State-centric parties”.

“The victory of BJP and the defeat of AAP in Delhi will have no impact on Odisha politics. Had a regional party lost polls in this region, it could have some impact on Odisha. But the case is not the same in the Delhi Assembly elections. The regional parties are still ruling our neighbouring Jharkhand and West Bengal. The BJD is the principal Opposition in Odisha by securing more votes than the ruling BJP in the previous elections,” Mishra said. He said AAP’s defeat should “not be a parameter to judge the influence of regional parties in India”.

Mishra’s statement was also supported by former Union minister and senior Congress leader Srikant Jena, who pointed out that the AAP secured 43.57 per cent of votes while the winner BJP got 45.56 per cent. “This is despite the fact that the BJP has a stronghold in Delhi since Jana Sangh days,” the Congress leader said. He said the AAP lost power due to several factors.

Asked about the reasons behind Congress’ poor performance, Jena said, “The Congress was sandwiched between the AAP and the BJP. The Congress vote share has gone up from 4.26 per cent to 6.36 per cent,” he said, rejecting the existence of “Modi magic” in elections.

Mishra claimed that the regional parties “represent the regional or sub-regional aspiration of the people” while the national parties do not have such understanding. “The regional parties meet the peoples’ aspiration and they will always remain in Indian politics. ‘Bharat Mata’ will be strengthened if the regions and their parties are strong,” the BJD leader argued.

Mishra said the BJP has been able to secure victories in many States as the saffron camp joins hands with different regional parties as done in Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Bihar. He claimed that the regional parties will continue to have their influence in States as Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal.