BHUBANESWAR: If Prime Minister Narendra Modi follows the suggestion of the Odisha BJP and chooses to contest from Puri in 2019 Lok Sabha election, he will be the second sitting PM to enter the LS fray from the eastern state after P V Narasimha Rao did it in 1996.Rao, who won from Berhampur Lok Sabha seat in Odisha with a huge victory margin (by securing over 62.5% per cent votes) besides Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh, had retained Berhampur in the 11th Lok Sabha. He could not, however, come back as PM because of the fractured mandate that saw Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP form a short-lived government.While speculation is rife about political ramifications of Modi contesting from Puri, the BJP is busy with the ground work. The BJP state executive here on Sunday, attended by Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani besides state’s senior leaders, deliberated on the political situation in the state, including the possibility of Modi contesting from Puri, BJP sources said.Modi, who comes from the land of Somanth (Gujarat) represents Varanasi famous as Kashi Viswanath Dham. By contesting from Jagannath dham, the PM would make the “right signal” to the people in the country, BJP insiders hope. “It will be huge morale booster to BJP workers here,” state BJP president Basanta Panda said. Pinaki Mishra of the BJD is the sitting MP from Puri.Another argument is that Modi has been pitching for development of eastern India on a par with the west. “Coming from the west coastal state of Gujarat, if he contests from the east coast, he will send a strong political signal that he means what he says: the eastern part of the country must match in development parameters with states in western India,” said another BJP leader.BJP president Amit Shah has many times said Odisha, besides West Bengal and Telangana, is one of the key focus states for the saffron party. Sensing anti-incumbency against the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD, currently on its fourth term in a row, the BJP pins high hope from Odisha, where the state assembly elections will be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha. In 2014, BJP had won in only 10 of the 147 assembly and only one Lok Sabha seat (Jual Oram from Sundargarh) from Odisha besides two of 42 in West Bengal, one out of 17 in Telangana and two out of 25 in Andhra Pradesh.Political analysts feel Modi contesting from Odisha would boost the party fortune in eastern India, but he is unlikely to leave politically crucial Uttar Pradesh or his home state Gujarat for Odisha. “Odisha with only 21 LS seat may be at best a peripheral consideration for the BJP. I don’t think the BJP managers would decide for Modi entering the fray from Puri though such a move would make a big difference to the BJP performance here,” said Jayant Mohapatra, a retired professor of political science from Berhampur University.Odisha’s revenue minister and Puri MLA Maheswar Mohanty said Modi’s contesting from Puri would not make any impact on the BJD.

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