‘Speculation Confusing BJP Workers’: Manmohan Samal Softens Rhetoric Over Pact With BJD In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Hours after claiming that the BJP will go solo in upcoming elections in Odisha, party’s state president Manmahon Samal on Thursday softened his stance, saying that national president and parliamentary committee of the party will take a final call on the much-talked-about alliance with BJD.

Treading carefully, he urged the media to avoid speculations on the alliance talks as such news/reports are confusing the party workers and also putting them in a fix. “A lot have been reported in media in the last eight days. Some speculations have been made without any basis. It is a sensitive time (election time) and the media should avoid creating narratives using my statements,” he said.

Samal further said that the state unit has been working in all 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats, preparing strategy for the upcoming polls. ” The BJP is a cadre-based mass party. The state leaders will abide by the decision taken by the central leadership,” he added.

He has also deleted the post on X in which he had shared a video, mentioning that the BJP will fight elections alone and form the government in Odisha.

His latest statement assumes significance as the delay in sealing the deal, which has been in the works for the past few weeks, has been primarily attributed to reluctance of the BJP’s Odisha leaders for a pact with the BJD amid the central leadership’s efforts to get regional parties into NDA fold, to achieve its ambitious target of 400 plus seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

On the other hand, BJD national spokesperson Santrupt Misra said that the party leadership will inform media on the alliance with BJP whenever the time is appropriate. 

Senior leaders of the regional party, which has been power in Odisha for almost 24 years, will be meeting at Naveen Niwas, the residence of party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, at 4.30 pm. They had earlier met for over 3 hours on March 6, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Odisha. BJD vice-president and MLA Debi Prasad Mishra had then acknowledged discussions about a possible alliance with the BJP and said that the party will “prioritise the greater interests of the people of Odisha”.