Talk to Naveen Patnaik’s party booth, BJP eyes individual contest in Odisha

According to sources, alliance negotiations have mainly encountered obstacles in terms of seat allocation ratio.

New Delhi:

The much-anticipated pre-poll alliance and seat-sharing talks between the ruling BJD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha have hit a snag, raising the possibility of both parties participating in the upcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly elections independently . The talks, held in Delhi, failed to resolve differences in the two key constituencies of Bhubaneswar and Puri, leading to an unexpected face-off.

After returning to Bhubaneswar on Friday evening, BJP state president Manmohan Samal and other senior leaders hinted at the possibility of the BJP fielding in all 147 assembly constituencies and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in Odisha candidate. Samar said discussions in Delhi focused only on preparations for the upcoming elections, with no mention of alliances or seat-sharing arrangements.

“There is no discussion on alliances and we (BJP) will go to the polls alone,” news agency Press Trust of India quoted Mr Samal as saying. “We went to Delhi to discuss with central leaders what we have prepared for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Parliament. Preparations for elections. There were no talks of alliance or seat-sharing with any party during the meeting. The BJP will contest the twin polls on its own.”

The apparent breakdown in talks has fueled speculation, especially given the historical backdrop of the BJD’s exit from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 15 years ago. Former BJP leader and minister Sushma Swaraj later predicted that BJP leader Naveen Patnaik would “regret” the 11-year-old understanding Later, the relationship was severed.

seat games

According to sources, alliance negotiations have mainly encountered obstacles in terms of seat allocation ratio. While the two parties initially agreed on the idea of ​​a coalition ahead of the vote, differences emerged over the distribution of seats. The BJD tried to contest more than 100 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, but the BJP found the proposal unacceptable.

Instead, the BJP sought 14 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha but was rejected by the BJD. The deadlock over seat allocation escalated further, with both sides sticking to their guns. In the 2019 general elections, the BJD won 12 seats while the BJP won 8 out of 21 seats.

National units and central leadership

Odisha BJP leaders led by Mr Samal held a series of meetings over three days in Delhi to discuss the alliance’s issues with central leaders. However, a final decision was not reached.

The dynamics of alliance talks appear to have changed since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on March 5. Some sections of the Odisha BJP leadership reportedly supported the idea of ​​an alliance, but others, including Samar, were in agreement. reiterated their desire to contest the election alone.

Mr Samal and other party officials gathered at the residence of another BJP leader in Bhubaneswar last night for further discussions. BJD’s VK Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das, who rushed to Delhi on a chartered flight to hold discussions with the BJP central leadership on Thursday evening, have returned to the state capital.

past seat ratio

Between 1998 and 2009, the two parties formed an alliance for about 11 years and jointly campaigned for three Lok Sabha elections and two parliamentary elections.

Odisha has been conducting simultaneous polls since 2004 and voting patterns have remained consistent till 2014, with voters generally supporting the BJD in both assembly and Lok Sabha elections. However, the 2019 election deviated from this trend, with a degree of vote splitting.

In the 2014 assembly elections, the BJD dominated with 117 seats out of 147, while the BJP won 10 seats and the Congress 16 seats. Predictions for Lok Sabha seats are closely tied to the results, with the BJD bagging 20 seats and the BJP one seat. In 2019, there was a clear change in the voting pattern, with the BJD winning 112 assembly seats, the BJP 23 seats and the Congress 9 seats.

something went wrong

The alliance was once considered the BJP’s most reliable ally in the NDA, but it collapsed in 2009 after seat-sharing talks failed. Officials attributed the collapse to the BJD’s demand to reduce the BJP’s parliamentary seats from 63 to around 40 and from nine to six. The demand was deemed unreasonable by BJP leaders, leading Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s government to withdraw its support, marking the end of an 11-year-old political marriage.

The BJD called the withdrawal of support an “act of betrayal”.

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