Suspense continued over an alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha forward of the upcoming Lok Sabha and meeting polls, amid hypothesis that seat-sharing talks might have hit some last-minute hurdles. As the BJP state unit maintained its posture of going solo within the polls, a brief clip of BJD chief Naveen Patnaik terming “rumours and lies” because the worst factor in politics added to the confusion.
File picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. (ANI)
On Friday night, state BJP president Manmohan Samal following his return from Delhi stated there was no dialogue with occasion’s central management concerning the alliance.
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Read right here: BJP, BJD Odisha alliance talks stalemate exhibits no signal of ending, events set to go separate methods for LS elections
“We had gone to Delhi to hold discussions with the central leaders on our preparations for the elections to Lok Sabha and the assembly in the state. There were no talks on alliance or seat-sharing with any party during the meeting,” Samal stated. “We are confident of winning the assembly as well as Lok Sabha elections. The BJP will contest on its own strength in the state.”
On Saturday, occasion’s election in-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar made an analogous comment. “We will win more than 80 MLA and 16 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. There was no discussion in the BJP about an alliance with BJD. People should ask the people who floated the idea of an alliance. We are preparing to fight on all 147 seats in Odisha,” Tomar stated.
Party’s Bhubaneswar lawmaker Aparajita Sarangi additionally posted the news stories of Samal’s denial of an alliance with the BJD on her Facebook web page, mirroring the pushback from leaders like herself in addition to occasion cadres in opposition to the pact.
On Saturday night, the BJD launched a brief video of a dialog between chief minister Naveen Patnaik and his trusted aide VK Pandian. In the video shared on X handles of few BJD leaders, Pandian is seen asking Patnaik concerning the worst factor in politics, to which the latter responds as saying: “Spreading rumour and lies.”
All these added to hypothesis that the pre-poll alliance talks might have hit a rocky patch, whilst folks conscious of the matter in each events indicated high management of each events have been largely in settlement of a pact, albeit some last-minute hurdles over the variety of seats and the selection of constituencies every occasion would contest, particularly prestigious Bhubaneswar and Puri Lok Sabha seats.
CM Patnaik had rushed Pandian and occasion organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das to New Delhi on a personal jet on March 7 to satisfy Union residence minister Amit Shah and railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw so as to resolve the stalemate. The two returned to Bhubaneswar on Friday.
People conscious of the matter stated the BJD’s insistence on getting Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, which is presently represented by the BJP, has thrown spanner within the talks.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP gained the Lok Sabha seat within the state capital for the primary time with bureaucrat-turned-politician Aparajita Sarangi acing BJD’s Arup Patnaik, the previous Mumbai police commissioner. Though the BJD gained 12 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats within the state, the loss in Bhubaneswar was blow for CM Naveen Patnaik, who noticed it as a private loss.
With Sarangi touring the constituency during the last 5 years via numerous campaigns, the BJP is assured of retaining the seat within the normal elections this summer time as properly. “What is the point of leaving the most prestigious seat to BJD knowing well that we have upper hand there,” a senior BJP functionary within the state stated, declining to be named.
Similarly, each the events have locked their horns over Puri —the spiritual capital of Odisha and residential to well-known Jagannath temple. In 2019, BJP’s Sambit Patra misplaced to Pinaki Misra of the BJD by lower than 12,000 votes. Despite the loss, Patra has been regularly visiting the constituency during the last 5 years.
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For the BJD and specifically Naveen Patnaik, Puri stays key to their bigger plan and the state authorities not too long ago executed the ₹943-crore Srimandir Parikrama Prakalpa, the beautification mission of the perimeter of the enduring Jagannath temple with a myriad of amenities to make it a divine expertise for the visiting devotees. As Lord Jagannath is the best id of Odia neighborhood and the state’s historical past, tradition, custom and perception system are all centred across the deity, Patnaik has expended lot of his effort on the mission to hold him via the election in a state steeped in faith.
A BJD functionary requesting anonymity, nevertheless, stated the occasion might cede the Puri seat to the BJP it’s unlikely to compromise on Bhubaneswar.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
