2024 Elections In Odisha: BJD-BJP Alliance Talks Hit By Hard Bargaining Over Seat-Sharing!

Bhubaneswar: The alliance talks between Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha appeared to have been hit by hard bargaining by both sides over seat-sharing.

Though state BJP president Manmohan Samal ruled out any tie-up with the ruling BJD for the upcoming twin elections in the state, some senior leaders of both the parties claimed that the process is still on and a clear picture on the shape and contours of an alliance is likely to emerge in a day or two.

The seat-sharing talks between the two parties continue to hang primarily because of hard bargaining on both sides, especially over Assembly seats.

Senior BJD leaders V K Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das, who had flown to New Delhi for seat-sharing talks with BJP, returned to Bhubaneswar Friday, but said nothing on the outcome of discussion. However, after returning from Delhi, state BJP chief Manmohan Samal claimed that the saffron party would go it alone in the coming polls and that there was no discussion on alliance with BJD.

According to sources, the alliance talks hit hurdles primarily over seat-sharing ratios. While both parties had initially agreed on the idea of a pre-poll alliance, disagreements cropped up over the distribution of seats.

While the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD sought to contest more than 100 seats in the 147-member state Assembly, BJP found the proposition unacceptable and demanded at least 14 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. The demand was reportedly rejected by BJD.

It may be noted here that BJD secured 12 Lok Sabha seats, while BJP won eight in Odisha and Congress one in 2019 elections.

“BJD is demanding about 75% of the assembly seats which is not acceptable to us as it will adversely affect our prospect in the state,” a senior BJP leader said.

Similarly, a top BJD leader claimed that it would be suicidal for the regional party if it contests in less than 10 Lok Sabha seats.

BJD reportedly does not want anything less than 100 of the total 147 Assembly seats, though it adopted a flexible approach with regard to the number of seats for the Lok Sabha. The regional party had initially proposed to contest 112 seats for the Assembly, which was strongly opposed by the saffron party, sources said.

Though the two parties managed to arrive at a broad agreement over the number of Lok Sabha seats to be shared between them, differences over Bhubaneswar and Puri parliamentary constituencies prevailed.

Notably, both BJD and BJP were in an alliance for around 11 years between 1998 and 2009, contesting three Lok Sabha and two assembly elections together. The two parties ran coalition government from 2000 to 2009 in the state. BJD snapped its ties with the saffron party ahead of the 2009 elections.