Bhubaneswar: Amid speculation that an announcement on BJD-BJP alliance in Odisha is likely anytime soon, core members of the state unit of the saffron party met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday.
The meeting is underway at the official residence of the Home Minister with state party president Manmohan Samal, organisational secretary Manas Mohanty and other senior leaders in attendance. Odisha BJP in-charge Vijaypal Singh Tomar and party’s election co-in-charge for Odisha Lata Usendi are also present.
They are reportedly being given a pep talk to jointly work with the BJD in the better interests of the saffron party, sources disclosed.
Meanwhile, BJD has again called a meeting of its senior leaders at Naveen Niwas, the residence of party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, on March 14. They had earlier met for over 3 hours on March 6, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Odisha. BJD vice-president and MLA Debi Prasad Mishra had then acknowledged discussions about a possible alliance with the BJP and said that the party will “prioritise the greater interests of the people of Odisha”.
Following reports of stalemate in the talks, state BJP leaders were summoned to Delhi on Sunday evening and since then they had been holding discussions at Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s official residence. Dharmendra was reportedly tasked by the BJP top brass to instil clarity in the minds of the state leaders. Monday’s meeting of Odisha Governor Raghubar Das with Shah in New Delhi also added masala to what kind of alliance broth is boiling with speculation rife that the two might have discussed the Odisha affairs.
Earlier, BJP state unit president Manmohan Samal and Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi had stated that saffron party was not keen on an alliance with the BJD, which dumped it ahead of the 2009 general elections. The state leadership was also confident of nearly doubling its tally in Lok Sabha and Assembly in the 2024 elections.
However, the recent statements of state BJP leaders, denying any knowledge of alliance talks, was viewed as time buying tactics to pacify those resenting it.
