Lok Sabha Election / Will there be no BJP-BJD alliance in Odisha, where is the matter stuck?

Lok Sabha Election: Political temperatures are high regarding the Lok Sabha elections. Many leaders are busy changing sides. At the same time, BJP and Congress are busy strengthening their respective alliances. Meanwhile, BJP's alliance with Naveen Patnaik's party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha has not been completed. No result has been achieved in the meeting of both the parties. After this, the party has said that it will contest elections alone on all the seats in the state. After this, excitement has increased in political circles.

Odisha BJP says that the party is going to fight the upcoming assembly and Lok Sabha elections alone. This statement has come at a time when the meeting held in Delhi regarding alliance with BJD has remained inconclusive. Both the parties are not ready to accept each other's demands. BJP state president Manmohan Samal has returned to Odisha after his Delhi tour yesterday. He claims that there has been no talk of alliance and BJP will contest the elections alone.

BJP came forward openly, BJD maintained silence

He said, 'We had gone to Delhi to discuss with central leaders our preparations for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state. There was no discussion on alliance or seat sharing with any party during the meeting. He said that BJP will contest the elections on its own in Odisha and will win. At the same time, BJD leaders VK Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das also came to Delhi to discuss the alliance. He has also returned to Bhubaneswar. However, he has not given any statement regarding the alliance talks and has maintained silence.

According to PTI report, BJP and BJD agreed to the alliance, but both are now demanding more share in the seats. BJD demands that it should be given more than 100 seats out of 147 assembly seats in Odisha. A BJP leader says that BJD is demanding about 75 percent assembly seats, which is not acceptable to them. In this situation the party's prospects will be adversely affected.

BJD demanded to contest elections on 14 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which BJP has refused to accept. The party is not ready for this. A BJD leader says that if his party contests on less than 10 Lok Sabha seats, it will be like suicide for him. Naveen Patnaik's party had won 112 seats in the last assembly elections and hoisted the victory flag on 12 Lok Sabha seats, while winning eight seats.

Naveen Patnaik and BJP have been together

It is not that there was an alliance between BJP and BJD for the first time. Both the parties have been each other's allies in the past. BJP and BJD were with each other from 1998 to 2009. Naveen Patnaik has been the Minister of Steel and Mines in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Both the parties together secured 48.7 percent votes in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections and won 17 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats. After this, the alliance won 19 seats in 1999, while it won 18 seats in 2004.