BJP, BJD may go it alone in Orissa Assembly polls

BHUBANESWAR, JANUARY 27: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) failing to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement...

BHUBANESWAR, JANUARY 27: With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) failing to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Orissa, there is a possibility that the allies might go it alone if a solution to the contentious issue is not soon found.

The talks between the two parties had failed to make any headway in New Delhi, on Monday, despite the intervention of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan. Subsequently, leaders of both the allies had met separately to decide their strategy and no meeting was held between the two yesterday as no consensus could be reached on the issue. All the BJD leaders returned to Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

Leaders of both the parties had gone into a huddle on Monday to deliberate on the implications of fighting the Assembly polls separately. Both the allies can try for a post-poll pact if efforts for a pre-poll pact do not succeed. Sources said that the BJD was yet to scale down its demand to 100 seats, out ofa total of 147, while the BJP wants to contest in at least 70 constituencies. The BJD leaders are now pinning their hopes on their scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

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The BJP leaders here are of the opinion that since the BJD is not scaling down its demand, there is no point in fighting the Assembly polls as allies. They think that a BJP wave is sweeping the state and the party should file candidates in all the 147 seats.

Simultaneously, the BJD is also preparing to fight the elections on its own. “The BJP used the BJD for the parliamentary polls and now they don’t have any reason to relent,” a top BJD leader said, adding that the party should go it alone.

Differences have also cropped up between the two allies over the issue of projecting Naveen Patnaik as the chief ministerial candidate. Sources said that the BJP leaders had taken a strong exception to the unilateral decision taken by the BJD in this regard.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the designation gives law enforcement “enhanced powers to combat a group that has instilled fear through violence and intimidation”.

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