Bhubaneswar: Amid speculation about a likely decision on BJD-BJP alliance by Wednesday, BJD general secretary Sudhir Samal has asserted that the Conch party is confident of winning 125 Assembly seats in the upcoming elections in Odisha.
“I am not aware of any alliance talks as being speculated by media. The BJD is looking to improve its tally in the 2024 elections with best-ever performance till date. We will clinch 125 Assembly seats. We are also eyeing all 21 Lok Sabha seats,” the Dhenkanal MLA told a presser on Tuesday.
The BJD had won 112 Assembly and 12 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 elections.
In an attempt to drive his point home, he said that the BJD won more than 90% of Zilla Parishad seats during the Panchayat Elections in 2022. “With the blessing of the people of Odisha, we formed zilla parishads in all 30 districts, a feat achieved by no other party in Odisha before. The party also swept the urban local body polls,” he said.
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The BJD legislator further said that the Naveen Patnaik-led outfit had formed the government by securing 75% of Assembly seats in the last three elections in the state. “After assuming office for the fifth consecutive term, the CM continued with the 5T transformation programme and all-round development of the state. And the party is confident of coming back to power with 125 seats,” he added.
This is perhaps the first time a BJD leader has responded to the alliance talks after March 6. BJD vice-president and MLA Debi Prasad Mishra, following over three hours of discussion with party leaders at Naveen Niwas, had then said that the party will “prioritise the greater interests of the people of Odisha”. He also acknowledged discussions about a possible alliance with the BJP but did not explicitly confirm its formation.
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Earlier, BJP state unit president Manmohan Samal and Balasore MP Pratap Sarangi had stated that saffron party is not keen on alliance with the BJD, which dumped the saffron party ahead of the 2009 general elections.
The saffron party, on the other hand, is confident of nearly doubling its tally from Odisha in Lok Sabha and Assembly in Elections 2024. In 2019, it won 8 MP and 23 MLA seats.
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Sources, however, said that state BJP leaders, who are in a huddle at Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s official residence in New Delhi for the last 3 days, are believed to have been advised by their party top brass to weigh the pros and cons at the earliest. “The BJP top leadership will thereafter take the final call. The party honchos want to take a decision before a meeting of NDA members slated for March 14,” a party source said.
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The BJD is said to have offered 13 Lok Sabha and 42 Vidhan Sabha seats, but the BJP wants 14 Lok Sabha and between 49 and 56 Vidhan Sabha constituencies.
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