Bhubaneswar: Alliance talks between the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP in Odisha have failed and both the parties have announced that they will contest the elections on their own strength. This will make for an interesting triangular battle in the state with Congress being the third major party in the contest. Assembly and Lok Sabha polls are being held simultaneously in the state in four phases.
The talks failed after prolonged negotiations that began soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the state on March 5. Making it clear that negotiations have produced no result state BJP president Manmohan Samal on Friday wrote in an X post: “BJP will fight this election alone in all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats with the aim of creating a developed India and a developed Odisha under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of four and a half crore Odias.”
BJD general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das also said in a post on X, “ BJD will contest in all 147 assembly constituencies and all 21 Lok Sabha constituencies with the support of the people of Odisha and win more than three fourth seats under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik. BJD will continue to take decisions keeping people of Odisha in the forefront always and their welfare in true spirit of cooperative federalism and statesmanship required for nation building.” He said “ New Odisha and Empowered Odisha will be our goal and we are on track to achieve this under the leadership of our leader Naveen Patnaik.”
Speculation about the revival of the BJD-BJP alliance, which had collapsed ahead of 2009 elections, gained traction in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s March 5 visit to the state during which he described chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik as a “popular” chief minister. There was great bonhomie between the two leaders which set tongues wagging.
Soon after PM’s departure for Delhi state BJP leaders were called to Delhi while BJD leaders went into a huddle at Naveen Niwas, the official residence of the chief minister in Bhubaneswar. Soon Naveen’s Man Friday and chairman of Nabin Odisha, VK Pandian and BJD general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das also paid a visit to Delhi.
However, there was no formal announcement from any side about an alliance. Sometime later state BJP president Samal and BJP state in-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar asserted that the party would go it alone in the elections. However, Samal later clarified that these were his personal views and suspense over alliance continued.
All that his now water under the bridge with both sides making it clear that they fill fight the ensuing polls on their own strength. Samal’s latest statement was also tweeted by union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Party’s Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi wrote on her in X handle “Excellent. Immensely grateful.’
Sources said the talks failed as top leaders of both the parties could not arrive at a mutually acceptable seat sharing arrangement. It may be mentioned that before the collapse of their alliance in 2009 the BJD and BJP had a seat-sharing equation of 4:3. While BJD contested for 84 assembly seats and 12 lok sabha seats in the state the BJP fought on 63 assembly seats and 9 lok sabha seats.
Sources said that BJP this time was demanding 13 to 15 Lok and more than 50 assembly seats which was not acceptable to BJD. Significantly, Samal’s statement about BJP going it alone came on a day when six time BJD MP from Cuttack Bhartruhari Mahtab resigned from the party. Speculation is rife that he may join BJP. Mahtab welcomed the news of alliance talks failing and maintained that a pact between the ruling party and the main opposition party was not good for the health of democracy.
The negotiations between the two parties were driven primarily by the central leaderships of both parties as may state leaders on either side were unhappy and did not want a pact. The cadres were in a rebellious mood. For the BJP the alliance was important as it would have brought it closer to the goal of the NDA achieving 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. For the BJD alliance could have been a way of beating the perceived anti-incumbency factor which might have kicked in after 24 years of uninterrupted rule in the state.
Leaders on both sides have admitted, though not publicly, that talks came unstuck after failing to find common ground on a number of issues, chiefly the issue of seat sharing and identification of seats. The BJP kept pushing for at least 50 seats in the assembly and 14 seats in the Lok Sabha, arguing that recent electoral evidence suggested that it was the party on the rise in Odisha, the BJD said that it was still the pre-eminent political party in the state. It was not willing to give more than 40 and 13 seats to the BJP in the assembly and parliamentary elections respectively.
In 2019, the BJP won 23 seats in the assembly, 13 more than it won in 2014. The BJD won the elections with 112 seats. In the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, however, the BJD won 12 seats and the BJP eight. For the BJP it was a major gain as it had only one Lok Sabha seat in 2014. However, with talks failing now not only BJD and BJP but also Congress, the third major player in the state politics, are expected to declare their candidates, setting the stage for a triangular battle.
