Lok Sabha elections 2024: BJP-BJD alliance talks break down over seat-sharing arrangements
The BJD and the BJP were in an alliance for about 11 years between 1998 and 2009 and fought three Lok Sabha and two Assembly elections together.
Lok Sabha elections 2024: The alliance talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) have collapsed as both parties have failed to reach a consensus on the division of seats between them in the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly -elections. held simultaneously in the state.
Leaders from both parties said on Friday that alliance talks have hit a roadblock as unanimity over seat allocation could not be reached.
BJD is demanding more than 100 seats in the state elections in Odisha
Quoting BJP sources, a PTI report said that the BJP was trying to contest from over 100 seats in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, which the saffron party leadership found highly unacceptable as it would hamper the party’s growth in the state to obstruct.
The BJD has 114 members in the outgoing Odisha Assembly and initially demanded 112 seats during talks with the BJP, the sources said.
“The BJD is claiming about 75 per cent of the seats in the assembly, which is not accepted by us,” a senior BJP leader said, adding that such a situation would adversely affect the saffron party’s future prospects in the state.
BJP wants 14 LS seats
On the other hand, the BJP has fielded 14 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, a proposal that was rejected by the BJD, which had won 12 seats in the 2019 general elections, while the BJP emerged victorious in eight constituencies bus came.
“It would be suicidal for us if we contest on less than 10 LS seats,” a senior BJD leader said, according to PTI.
Pandian, Das is flying back to Odisha
Close aides of BJD President and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik – VK Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das – who had fled to Delhi on a chartered flight on Thursday evening to hold talks with the BJP leadership, returned on Friday afternoon, the PTI report said.
Both Pandian and Das attended a meeting to observe International Women’s Day at the BJD headquarters but remained mum on their conversation with top brass of the BJP in Delhi on Thursday evening.
No decision on alliance: Odisha BJP
The Odisha BJP leaders led by state president Manmohan Samal remained in Delhi and held marathon meetings with several central leaders at the residence of state election in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Pal Singh Tomar.
Odisha BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said, “A decision on the alliance has been taken only this afternoon.”
BJP state president Samal had said on March 1 that the party would field candidates in all 147 assembly segments and 21 LS seats.
However, the situation changed a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state on March 5, after which alliance talks dominated state politics.
The BJD has now indicated that it will do everything, including forging an alliance, in the interest of the state and its people.
BJP-BJD alliance rumours
Strong rumors were doing the rounds in the political circle about a possible BJP-BJD alliance, which were further fueled after Prime Minister Modi and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik publicly praised each other on several occasions, most recently during Modi’s rally in the state on Tuesday.
It is notable that the BJP and the BJD have also been allies in the past and that the regional party mainly supported the Modi government’s agenda in Parliament.
The BJD and the BJP were in an alliance for about 11 years between 1998 and 2009 and fought three Lok Sabha and two Assembly elections together.
When the Janata Dal split in 1998, Patnaik formed his own party and joined the Vajpayee-led BJP government as Minister of Steel and Mines.
The two parties first fought parliamentary elections together in 2000 and again in 2004.
Earlier, the seat division between BJD and BJP was 4:3. While BJD contested 84 Assembly and 12 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP contested in 63 Assembly and 9 Lok Sabha seats.
The alliance won 17 out of 21 seats with a vote share of 48.7 percent in the 1998 general election. The alliance improved the number of seats again to 19 seats in 1999, which dropped slightly to 18 by 2004.
(With PTI inputs)