Bhubaneswar: The newfound bonhomie between BJD and Congress in Odisha, witnessed during the recent Rajya Sabha polls, could well extend to the upcoming rural elections.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Das on Monday hinted at a potential electoral understanding between the parties.“If BJD president Naveen Patnaik and the Congress high command — Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi — feel the necessity to come together in the larger interest of secular politics, then a tie-up for the upcoming elections is certainly possible,” he told reporters after inaugurating the party’s new office in Khurda.
He, however, said that Odisha Congress is making all efforts to strengthen its organisation at panchayat levels. “We will leave no stone unturned to win every panchayat and Zilla Parishad. We want to become stronger and stronger,” he added.
Responding to his statement, senior BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra asserted that the interests of Odisha will remain paramount in every decision taken by the party. “The party supremo will take an appropriate decision at the right time,” he added.
Last Month, Naveen and Das were seen seated together during the nomination filing of BJD candidate Santrupt Misra and common candidate Dr Datteswar Hota, underlining a rare moment of bonhomie between the parties that have been at loggerheads virtually since the BJD’s birth in 1997. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ramachandra Kadam, AICC Odisha in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu, and Narasingha Mishra also attended a closed-door meeting where the BJD president addressed his party’s MLAs on the Rajya Sabha polls.
Though Naveen then appeared to endorse the idea of cooperation with the Congress, he kept everyone guessing on its potential future with his cryptic comment: “Time always tells future history”.
Hota, however, lost the polls to BJP-backed Dilip Ray due to cross-voting by eight BJD and three Congress MLAs, many of whom opposed the arrangement between the two parties.
