In the bustling metropolis of New Delhi, the Odisha faction of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made a decisive declaration on Friday evening. Firmly asserting their independence, the party announced its intent to go solo in the impending assembly and Lok Sabha elections. This proclamation surfaced in the aftermath of purportedly unproductive alliance discussions with the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), wherein neither side yielded to the other’s stipulations.
Upon his return to Odisha from Delhi, BJP’s state president, Manmohan Samal, emphasized the absence of any alliance discourse during their discussions with central leaders. Clarifying the purpose of their visit, he articulated, “Our mission to Delhi centered around consultations with central leaders concerning our strategic preparations for the upcoming elections. No deliberations on alliance formations or seat-sharing agreements transpired during the meeting.”
Samal affirmed the Odisha BJP’s unwavering resolve to contest and triumph in the elections solely on its inherent strengths.
On the flip side, BJD luminaries VK Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das, who had expedited to Delhi on a chartered flight the preceding evening for pre-poll alliance deliberations with BJP central leaders, returned to Bhubaneswar with their lips sealed.
Delving into the intricacies of why the BJP-BJD alliance negotiations hit an impasse, sources revealed that an initial consensus had been reached, only to be unraveled by conflicting seat allocation demands.
According to reports from PTI, the BJD pressed for an allocation of over 100 out of the 147 Odisha assembly seats. A senior BJP figure, disapprovingly noted, “The BJD is insisting on a lion’s share of nearly 75% of the assembly seats, a proposition we find untenable.” The same source warned that such a scenario could detrimentally impact the saffron party’s prospects in the state.
In a reciprocal manner, the BJD exhibited reluctance to accede to the BJP’s insistence on securing 14 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. A senior BJD leader commented, “It would be inimical to our interests if we were to compete in fewer than 10 LS seats.”
A historical perspective sheds light on the intricate relationship between Naveen Patnaik’s BJD and the BJP. The BJD, under Patnaik’s leadership, clinched a remarkable victory with 112 seats in the 2019 Odisha assembly elections, complemented by triumphs in 12 Lok Sabha seats, while the BJP secured eight.
The historical context unveils a bygone era of camaraderie when the BJP and BJD formed a coalition between 1998 and 2009, with Patnaik serving as the Minister of Steel and Mines in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Their collaboration bore fruit in the 1998 general elections, securing 17 out of 21 seats with an impressive 48.7 percent vote share. Although the alliance slightly diminished to 18 seats in 2004, it continued to exert influence until their subsequent parting of ways.