Odisha: Have BJP-BJD seat-sharing talks failed?

Odisha BJP has hinted at contesting Lok Sabha, assembly polls alone

CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Speculations around a possible alliance between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, have ended for now, after state president of the saffron party confirmed it will go alone in the polls.

When asked about the possibilities of a pre-poll alliance between the two parties, Manmohan Samal, who along with other senior leaders of the party returned to Bhubaneswar from Delhi on Friday evening, said, "There was no talk on alliance and we (BJP) will go to polls alone.

"We had gone to Delhi to hold discussions with the central leaders on our preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state. No talks on alliance or seat-sharing with any party were held during the meeting."

However, there were reports that there were talks over a pre-poll alliance but they failed after the BJP and BJD failed to agree on the seat-sharing. BJD leaders V.K. Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das had gone to Delhi in a chartered flight on Thursday evening to, reportedly, discuss pre-poll alliance with BJP central leaders. But they, too, returned to Bhubaneswar later and have been silent regarding the outcome of the discussions.

The Odisha BJP has said it may field candidates in all the 147 assembly and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state.

Reports say that the BJD wanted to contest from over 100 seats in the 147-member Odisha assembly, but the BJP was against it. In the outgoing assembly, the BJD has 114 members and, initially, it demanded 112 seats during talks with the BJP.

"The BJD is demanding about 75 per cent of the assembly seats which is not acceptable to us," a senior BJP leader told PTI.

The BJP, on the other hand, sought 14 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha which has been rejected by the BJD. In the 2019 general elections, the BJD had won 12 seats while the BJP won eight.