Bhubaneswar: Both Governing Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Opposition BJP have started hectic brainstorming sessions to form an alliance between the duo.
The ruling party is holding a crucial meeting with all senior leaders of the party here at Naveen Niwas. Chief Minister and BJD Supremo Naveen Patnaik is presiding over the meeting.
Senior leaders including 5T Chairman V K Pandian, BJD Senior Vice President Debi Prasad Mishra, Organisational Secretary Pranab Prakash Das, Senior General Secretary Arun Kumar Sahoo, Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Tukuni Sahu, Sanjay Das Burma, and many other leaders are attending the meeting.
Similarly, the State BJP leaders led by President Manmohan Samal are in New Delhi and having meetings with party national President J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also attended the meeting.
Both the parties are chalking out to give final shape to the alliance. The number of seats and which seats will go to which party are being chalked out, sources said.
Speaking to reporters, Shri Mishra said, “An extensive discussion was held under the leadership of BJD President and CM Naveen Patnaik with the senior leaders of the Party today regarding the strategy of the upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections.”
In the discussions it was resolved that since by 2036, Odisha will complete 100 years of its statehood and BJD and CM has major milestones to be achieved by this time, therefore Biju Janata Dal will do everything towards this in the greater interests of people of Odisha and the State, he said.
Though he did not directly speak about the alliance, he indicated towards it without ruling it out.
Similarly, speaking to the media in New Delhi, senior BJP MP and former Union Minister Jual Oram said a crucial meeting in this regard was held at the Core Committee meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. Various issues on how to fight elections were discussed at the crucial meeting, he said.
The Odisha BJP proposed to fight alone in the upcoming polls. However, the Central leadership of the BJP will take a final call on the coalition issue, Oram said.
Notably, the BJD and BJP alliance was there from 2000 to 2009 and both the parties formed coalition governments in the State during the nine years.
