Odisha To Witness BJD-BJP Seat-Sharing For 2024 Polls: Congress MLA Tara Babinipati

Bhubaneswar: A day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) declared its first list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls, Congress MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati on Sunday claimed that saffron party would have seat sharing with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha.

Speaking to reporters, the senior Congress leader and MLA from Jeypore claimed that Odisha is all set to witness seat-sharing between BJD and BJP for the upcoming Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections.

The very fact that not a single candidate from Odisha figures in the list of 196 nominees announced by BJP on Saturday clearly indicates that the saffron party is going to enter into seat adjustment with BJP in the state, he claimed.

Claiming that there exists an undeclared understanding for seat-sharing for the upcoming polls between BJD and BJP, Bahinipati said it is up to the two political parties whether to make their pre-poll alliance public and official.

“Though both BJP and BJD are denying any seat-sharing understanding, there is definitely an undeclared deal between the two political parties,” the Congress legislator claimed.

However, senior BJD leader and MLA Sudhir Samal rejected the claim made by the Congress MLA and said there is no electoral understanding with BJP as of now.

BJP has also made it clear that it has no pre-poll understanding with BJD and that the saffron party would announce its candidates from Odisha after its meeting slated to be held on March 6, he said.