As the suspense over the BJD-BJP alliance continued to prevail, BJP election in-charge for Odisha Vijaypal Singh Tomar here on Saturday categorically said there would not be any alliance with any party in the State.
Tomar said the BJP is making all preparations to fight the upcoming elections on its own strength.
“We will win more than 80 MLAs and 16 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. There is no discussion in the BJP about an alliance with the BJD. People should ask the people who floated the idea of an alliance. We are preparing to fight for all 147 seats,” Tomar said.
Two BJD leaders, VK Pandian and party organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das, had visited New Delhi in a special flight on Thursday reportedly to carry forward discussions with the BJP on the modalities of a coalition.
However, Tomar refuted the buzz of any meetings with them.
“Nobody from the BJD met me in Delhi. If anybody had met our Central leaders, then they would have informed me,” he added.
After a series of meetings at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence, senior BJD leader Debi Prasad Mishra had told the media earlier that a discussion on the alliance was held and a decision would be taken in the interests of the people of Odisha.
BJD MLA Nrusingha Charan Sahu on Saturday said, “I have heard speculations about an alliance. Patnaik will take a final call on that.”
Commenting on Sahu’s statement, Gopalpur MLA and BJP leader Pradeep Panigrahi said, “The BJP State president has already clarified twice everything on the alliance issue. He is the only authority in Odisha who can say anything on this. And he has cleared that there has been no discussion about the alliance. There is no basis for the speculation about a coalition.”
“The BJP will fight alone in Odisha. It will also send many MPs to Delhi to form an NDA Government at the Centre as well,” Panigrahi added. BJP Odisha president Manmohan Samal, returning after talks with Central party leaders in Delhi on Friday evening, had dismissed the talk of alliance and stated that no such talks took place in Delhi.
