Bhubaneswar: Even as suspense over BJD-BJP alliance talks lingers, senior BJD leader and former minister Pratap Jena stirred a row on Sunday by announcing Prasant Behera, the incumbent MLA, as party candidate for Salepur seat in the upcoming Assembly elections in Odisha.
“He will win by over 50,000 votes,” he said to loud cheer of people at a public meeting at Mala gram panchayat.
Jena, the MLA from Mahanga, had made a similar statement in 2019. Behera had won the 2019 elections by defeating BJP’s Prakash Chandra Behera by over 34,000 votes.
This came a day after Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik in a conversation with 5T Chairman V K Pandian termed ‘gossip’ and ‘lies’ as the worst aspects of politics, which added to the confusion over the fate of the possible alliance between BJD and BJP.
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BJP co-in-charge for elections in Odisha Lata Usendi, who arrived in Bhubaneswar this morning, also added to the ongoing ambiguity over the possible alliance by stating that the saffron party is ready to fight all assembly or Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. “It is the media which is making speculation on the possible alliance. We are preparing to contest all seats in the state. Discussion was held on each seat in Delhi. A crucial meeting with party office bearers is scheduled for today,” she said.
BJP Manmohan Samal and BJP election in-charge for Odisha Vijay Pal Singh Tomar had earlier brushed aside the possibility of an alliance.
Going by discussions in both camps, the seat-sharing negotiations are yet to be sorted out as both parties are obdurate about the number of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies they want their nominees to contest from.
