The suspense over the possibility of an alliance between the BJD and the BJP in Odisha ended on Friday with the parties deciding to fight the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state independently.
“BJP will fight this election alone in all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats with the aim of creating a developed India and a developed Odisha under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of four and a half crore Odias,” BJP state president Manmohan Samal posted on X on Friday.
BJD general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das said in a post on X: “BJD will contest in all 147 Assembly constituencies and all 21 Lok Sabha constituencies with the support of the people of Odisha and win more than three fourth seats under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik. BJD will continue to take decisions keeping the people of Odisha in the forefront always and their welfare in true spirit of cooperative federalism and statesmanship required for nation building.”
The breakdown of talks comes as a double whammy for the BJP. It will not only hurt Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cry of “Abki baar 400 paar” but also weaken
the party’s effort to challenge the ruling BJD in the state, BJP insiders said.
“Naveen Babu has proved to be a shrewder political strategist than our top leadership,” a senior BJP leader said, recalling the day in 2009 when the BJD boss had similarly snapped ties with the BJP just ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state.
“The BJP is the principal Opposition in Odisha. With what conviction will the state BJP leaders now challenge the ruling BJD in the Assembly polls?” the leader said.
BJP’s Odisha in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar, however, denied the party had reached out to the BJD for an alliance. “Our party in Odisha has always maintained that we will go alone and contest all the seats. All this alliance talk was only in the media,” Tomar said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s March 5 visit to Odisha during which he described Naveen as a “popular” chief minister had fuelled speculation about the revival of the BJD-BJP alliance. The bonhomie between the two leaders, who shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, set the stage for talks.
In the wake of Modi’s visit, state BJP leaders were called to Delhi while BJD leaders went into a huddle at Naveen Niwas. Soon Naveen’s Man Friday and chairman of Nabin Odisha, V.K. Pandian, and Das also visited Delhi.
However, there was no formal announcement from any side about an alliance. Later, Samal and Tomar asserted that the party would go solo in the elections. Samal later clarified that these were his personal views and suspense over the alliance continued.
However, Samal’s tweet on Friday cleared the air as his statement was also tweeted
by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.