Alliance Suspense Thickens: PM Modi, Nadda To Take Call On Odisha, Says Amit Shah

Bhubaneswar: Adding fresh suspense to ongoing confusion over proposed alliance between the BJD and the BJP, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday neither confirmed nor denied the possibility of a tie-up between the two parties, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president J P Nadda are yet to decide on what their road ahead in Odisha.

“I cannot throw much light on this because our national president and Prime Minister have not yet decided how we will move ahead in Odisha,” Shah said at a conclave organised by a leading media house in New Delhi. “But I can only say that whichever way we go the BJP will get very good growth in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha and there will be a lot of improvement in our situation in Odisha,” he added.

To another query on whether it was ‘philosophically’ possible for the number one and its principal challenger to enter into an alliance, Shah said: “We are in hardcore politics and there is no philosophy in it. There are win-loss calculations and matching of the party’s ideologies.”

He further said a balance between winnability and ideology is struck while choosing allies.

Shah’s statements came amid lack of clarity over the possible alliance between the saffron party and the regional party with the seat-sharing talks seemingly hitting a stalemate. On Thursday, BJP state president Manmohan Samal, who met Shah earlier this week in New Delhi, told the media the BJP alone would form the government in the state.

The BJP is scheduled to meet with its Pradesh Election Committee meeting here on Saturday to discuss its candidates for the ensuing elections.