Alliance suspense: Odisha BJP leaders called to Delhi for discussion

Bhubaneswar: A day after BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik issued a one line statement saying that 'rumour' and 'lies' are worst aspect of politics, the BJP top brass on Sunday called its state unit leaders and those in charge of elections in Odisha to the national capital for a discussion.

Patnaik in an Instagram video Saturday had said 'rumour' and 'lies' were worst aspects in politics. The BJD president’s statement came barely hours after Odisha BJP election in-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar and party’s state president Manmohan Samal publicly said there were no talks on alliance with the BJD.

Both Tomar and Samal also said the BJP in Odisha will fight all the 147 assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats alone. Tomar even claimed that he was not aware of talks between BJD leaders and BJP central leaders on alliance. BJP MP Jual Oram had, however, said the BJP's core committee meeting had discussed the alliance matter, but nothing was finalised.

While denying alliance talks with the BJD leaders, Tomar had exuded confidence that BJP in Odisha will win more than 80 seats in assembly and 16 Lok Sabha seats. Similar was the statement of Samal.

BJP’s Odisha election deputy in-charge Lata Usendi also made a similar statement and rejected the possibility of an alliance before the twin polls in the state. Odisha has been conducting simultaneous polls for Lok Sabha and Assembly since 2004.

However, after getting a call from the BJP top brass, leaders including Samal, general secretary (organisation) Manas Mohanty, Tomar and Usendi left for New Delhi on Sunday.

At the airport, Samal said a team of state leaders of the party was going to hold a meeting with central leaders on the elections.

"We will discuss seat allotment. The discussion will cover all 147 assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state," Samal said.

Asked about the possibility of discussions on alliance, Samal said, "It will not be wise on my part to say anything about it." However, there have been statewide talks over the possible alliance between the two parties ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Odisha on March 5 and praised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Later, both the BJD and BJP held separate meetings of their leaders to discuss the matter. The BJD after its meeting issued a statement saying the regional party would do 'everything' for the larger interest of the party.

Indications were enough that the party was prepared for an alliance. BJD leader and MLA Nrushingha Sahu on Saturday said there was a discussion on alliance and the party would abide by the decision of Patnaik.

Though BJD leader and Patnaik’s close aide VK Pandian and party’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das visited Delhi to hold discussions with BJP top brass, they remained silent, adding to the suspense over the alliance.