No Headway in BJP-BJD Alliance Talks, BJP Plans Solo Fight in Odisha

New Delhi: The much-speculated pre-poll alliance and seat-sharing possibilities between Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seem to have made no headway.

The state BJP chief Manmohan Samal, on his return from New Delhi on Friday, said that alliance with BJD did not figure in their discussions with the central leadership. Samal reiterated before the media that that the BJP will fight upcoming elections alone in the state and the issue of alliance was never discussed with central leaders.

As per reports, the talks for a pre-poll alliance between the two parties in Delhi failed to resolve the differences over the sharing of seats. So, Samal hinted at the possibility of the BJP fielding candidates in all 147 assembly and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha.

According to sources, the alliance talks hit hurdles primarily over seat-sharing ratios. The BJD sought to contest over 100 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, a proposition the BJP found unacceptable. The BJP sought 14 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, a demand rejected by the BJD. In the 2019 general elections, the BJD had secured 12 seats, while the BJP won eight out of the total 21.

Odisha BJP leaders, led by Samal, held a series of meetings in Delhi for three days, engaging with central leaders to discuss the alliance. It did not draw any results.

The BJD’s VK Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das rushed to Delhi on Thursday night for discussions with BJP central leaders, and returned to Bhubaneswar without any breakthrough in the speculated alliance.

Both parties had an alliance for around 11 years till 2009. They contested three Lok Sabha and two assembly elections together.

The BJD-BJP pact was formed in 1998, orchestrated by senior leaders Bijay Mohapatra and the late Pramod Mahajan.