BJD Could Bag 16-18 Lok Sabha Seats, May Align With BJP If Need Arises

The BJD will bag around 16-18 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha in the forthcoming polls and BJP will have “limited impact” in the State even if Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to contest from Puri, the Deccan Herald has projected.

In a full page special pull out on Sunday, analysing whether Modi will come back as the PM, the paper said BJD has maintained equidistant from both the BJP and the Congress but may align with the former if the need arises. Naveen Patnaik may not be able to repeat the same performance in 2019 but would continue to be the undisputed leader of the state with some reduced strength.

Stating that Congress and BJP have been relegated to the fringes of the political spectrum, the paper projected that both could end up winning just about 1-2 seats out of the total 21 seats up for grabs. In 2014, the BJD won 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats defying the Modi wave that had engulfed the country. The BJP won the lone seat while the Congress drew a blank. In the Assembly polls, BJD won 114 out of the 147 seats.