Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Mar 22: The unwritten alliance between the BJP and the Odisha ruling party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has collapsed. After much deliberations held across Bhubaneswar and Delhi, the two parties have decided to part company and both go on their own to contest all the 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in the state.
The Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal declared on Friday that the party would fight all the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies and 147 Assembly seats alone in the coming simultaneous polls. Assembly elections in Odisha is set to go along with the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP decided not to tie up with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha for the Lok Sabha election after the Centre found many schemes of the Narendra Modi government have not been reaching the common people, Mr Samal said in a post on the microblogging platform X on Friday.
In his statement, Samal thanked Mr Patnaik-led BJD for its support to the BJP government at the Centre at key moments, but said the BJP did not agree with the BJD government on many issues pertaining to “the interests of Odia people”, like “Odia asmita (pride)”, and “Odia glory.”
The BJP’s decision came after a big meeting in Delhi, where Odisha BJP leaders convinced central leaders that an alliance with Mr Patnaik’s party would be against the BJP’s interest. Welcoming the move, BJP leader Aparajita Sarangi posted on X, “Excellent, immensely grateful.”
The BJP going solo in BJD-ruled Odisha was expected, as the party had already indicated it wouldn’t contest the national election together with Mr Patnaik’s party, though there had been speculation about a tie-up for a while in recent weeks. “For the past 10 years, BJD of Odisha under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik has been supporting the Narendra Modi government in the Centre in many matters of national importance. For this, we express our gratitude to him (Mr Patnaik),” the Odisha BJP chief said.
For over two months, there had been speculation about the BJP and the BJD returning to alliance. In the first week of February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made two visits to Odisha, addressing public gatherings each time. Notably, he has chosen to refrain from attacking the State government during these visits. Mr Patnaik had shared the stage with the PM on two separate official functions during the visits. It added fuel to the speculations.
“But today many welfare schemes of the Modi government are not reaching the ground in Odisha, due to which the people of the state are not getting their benefits. We have concerns on many issues related to Odisha identity, Odisha pride, and interest of the people of Odisha,” Mr Samal said in the post on X in Hindi.
“To fulfil the hopes, wishes and aspirations of 4.5 crore people of Odisha, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to make a developed India and developed Odisha, the BJP will win all the 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats. We will contest both Lok Sabha and assembly elections alone,” the state BJP chief said in the post. The BJD and the BJP were in alliance for 11 years between 1998 and 2009 and fought three Lok Sabha and two Assembly elections together.
Meanwhile, the BJD leader and Cuttack Member of Parliament Bhartruhari Mahtab on Friday resigned from primary membership of the regional party. The announcement comes just ahead of general elections, as BJD has recently seen several of its members quitting the party to join the BJP. Four incumbent MLAs, all formerly associated with the BJD, and over 10 former MLAs, had joined the BJP, anticipating that the party would mount a serious challenge against BJD.
