BHUBANESWAR, DECEMBER 23: Though the euphoria over BJP-BJD combine's spectacular victory in the last Lok Sabha elections in Orissa is yet to wear off, the question of leadership and seat sharing for contesting the Assembly polls due in March, could pose difficulties for both parties.Most BJD leaders have a feeling that in the event of the alliance winning a majority in the upcoming elections, party chief and Union Minister for Mines and Minerals Naveen Patnaik would be the logical choice to lead the government.But apparently the BJP is not yet prepared to toe that line.This was evident from the utterances of BJP legislature party leader Biswabhushan Harichandan who said the elected representatives would choose the next chief minister.Harichandan, while predicting a rout for the ruling Congress in the elections, told newsmen here on Wednesday that this has been made clear by BJP's national general secretary Pyare Lal Khandelwal.Apparently BJP leaders do not want to project Patnaik as the next chief minister, at least for the moment, in the event of the alliance winning the polls.While BJD leaders are demanding a major chunk of seats for their party, the BJP strategists are reluctant to concede too many seats to their partner.Harichandan said winning prospects of the candidates should be the sole criterion for sharing of seats.Initial discussions had started between both parties for sharing of seats and BJP state president Manmohan Samal had been authorised to negotiate the matter with the BJD, he informed.Harichandan said formal talks for seat sharing between the two parties will start after the BJP's national executive meeting to be held on December 28 and 29.Allaying apprehensions in the media that the seat sharing exercise would lead to a lot of problems between the allies, Harichandan said that this issue will be settled as amicably as it had been done during the Lok Sabha polls.The BJD and BJP had contested 12 and nine Lok Sabha seats in the last polls with the former winning ten of the constituencies and the latter sweeping all nine.The seat sharing between the two parties witnessed some differences prior to the parliamentary poll with a BJP rebel and party general secretary Rudranarayan Pani contesting the Dhenkanal seat as an Independent which was allotted to the BJDPani was expelled from the party but his entering the fray caused the defeat of the BJD candidate Tathagat Satpathy by a narrow margin. This happened despite Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visiting the constituency and castigating Pani for going against the party decision.The Orissa Assembly has 147 seats of which the BJD and BJP have a share of 35 and 10 respectively in the present House.
