New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will go alone in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Odisha, as its alliance talks with the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) did not materialise.
There had been reports, including those of ThePrint, that the BJP’s Odisha unit had opposed any alliance with the BJP from Day One, saying that it would be better to go solo and harm the party’s credibility.
The BJP will fight alone in all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats to create a developed India and a developed Odisha under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfill the hopes, and aspirations of four and a half crore Odias, BJP state chief Manmohan Samal said in a statement on social media platform ‘X’.
“Experience has shown that wherever there has been a double engine government across the country, development and poor welfare work has accelerated and the state has progressed in every field,” he posted.
“But today many welfare schemes of the Modi government are not reaching the ground in Odisha, due to which the poor sisters and brothers of Odisha are not getting their benefits. We have concerns on many issues related to Odisha-identity, Odisha-pride and interest of the people of Odisha,” he added.
विगत 10 वर्षों से, श्री नवीन पटनायक जी के नेतृत्व में ओडिशा की बीजू जनता दल (बीजेडी) पार्टी केंद्र की माननीय प्रधानमंत्री श्री नरेंद्र मोदी जी की सरकार के अनेक राष्ट्रीय महत्व के प्रसंगों में समर्थन देती आई है, इसके लिए हम उनका आभार व्यक्त करते हैं।
अनुभव में आया है कि देशभर…
— Manmohan Samal (Modi Ka Parivar) (@SamalManmohan7) March 22, 2024
Last week too, the Odisha BJP chief had made a similar statement on his arrival from Delhi after meeting Union Minister Amit Shah. “The BJP will form the government in the state alone with the blessings and cooperation of people,” he had said.
Samal then retracted his statement two hours later and also deleted his post on X in which he claimed that the BJP would form a government in Odisha on its own.
On Tuesday, Shah had dropped indications that the BJP could go solo when he said that “it is certain that we will see massive gains in our strength in Odisha”.
“There are many parties which supported us in Parliament on issues of national interest like abrogation of Article 370, GST, bonds which even the Congress had not supported. However, many parties gave us issue-based support and I believe that this is the beauty of democracy,” Shah said at the Network18 Rising Bharat Summit 2024.
A day earlier, Naveen Patnaik’s aide V.K. Pandian at the same event had said that tie-up talks were meant for a higher purpose, “not for electoral victory”.
“BJD does not need BJP to form government in the State, and BJP may not need BJD to form government at the Centre. That’s why I made it very clear that it has to do with two individuals who share a great friendship and they see some things are beyond politics. A rare mark of statesmanship,” Pandian had said.
The Odisha polls will be held simultaneously with the general election.
Being in opposition is more beneficial for the party to form the government in Odisha in the near future, a BJP leader from the eastern state told ThePrint.
“It’s more beneficial for the party to tap the anti-incumbency vote especially after the breakup with the BJD in 2009. It will not go well among the public that the ruling and the opposition parties made an alliance in the state. We know that we can improve our tally while fighting alone,” the BJP leader explained.
Formed in 1997 with leaders from the breakaway faction of Janata Dal, the BJD has been in power in Odisha since 2000.Naveen Patnaik himself has had an uninterrupted stint of over two decades as the chief minister.
Another BJP state leader also argued that the “present arrangement (in the state and the Centre) suits the BJP’s long-term interest of capturing Odisha”.
Former Union minister Jual Oram told ThePrint that from Day One, the state unit was in favour of fighting alone. “The Naveen Patnaik govt is facing huge anti- incumbency. Why will we lose anti-incumbency vote against the ruling party,” he added.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the BJD won 12 Lok Sabha seats (20 in 2014) in Odisha, while the BJP tallied eight (1 in 2014). The BJD then cornered 113 assembly seats that year while the BJP managed 23.
The BJP, however, managed to increase its vote share from 21.9 percent to 38.9 percent in the general election and 18.2 percent to 32.8 percent in the state election.
In March second week, a BJP core committee member had told ThePrint that the offer of alliance came from the Odisha based party. The BJD was not only looking to protect its political turf but Patnaik also would get time to decide his succession plan, the core committee member said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)