Damodar Moots BJD-Cong Alliance To Counter BJP

Damodar Rout

Bhubaneswar: BJD Vice President and Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout created a flutter on Monday by proposing an alliance between his party and the Congress to keep communal forces at bay.

The BJD veteran said the BJP is inciting communal tension in states, which is harmful in a democracy. “Non-BJP forces should work together to counter communal politics of the saffron party and unite to check Mission 120 of the BJP in Odisha. Since Congress is a secular party, there should be no issue with contesting elections together,” he said, adding that these are his personal views and a final decision in this regard will be taken by BJD president Naveen Patnaik.

He went further and asked Congress to come up with a list of seats it can win from the 147 assembly constituencies and the BJD will take it into consideration.

Damodar, however, was quick to clarify that BJD has been maintaining equi-distance from BJP and Congress since 2009 and the current status of the age-old party is not so good in the state.

The proposal, however, found no takers within BJD with party leaders saying that they will on the BJP alone.