BJP-BJD Alliance In Odisha Hits Roadblock Over Puri And Bhubaneswar Seats

The alliance in the works between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha has hit a roadblock over two prestigious seats: Puri and Bhubaneswar.

While the broad contours of the deal have been agreed upon by both the parties, it is the BJP’s claim over both these seats that has held up the formal announcement of the alliance, expected on Saturday (9 March).

The top leadership of both the parties have agreed in principle that while the BJP will field candidates from 14 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJD will contest around 100 of the 147 assembly seats. Lok Sabha and assembly polls will be held simultaneously in Odisha.

It is the BJP’s insistence on contesting from both Puri and Bhubaneswar that has held up the deal.

While the BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi won the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat in 2019, the BJD’s Pinaki Misra won Puri for the third time in 2019.

Sarangi has been a popular MP, and the BJP is quite confident that she will retain the seat this time as well. Sarangi had wrested the seat from the BJD, which had won Bhubaneswar five times consecutively since 1998.

While the BJD is inclined to leave Bhubaneswar for the BJP, it is the Puri seat that Naveen Patnaik is loath to part with.

The BJP wants Puri for its national spokesperson and prominent face, Sambit Patra. A known face in Puri, Patra lost the seat to the BJD’s Misra in 2019 by a narrow margin of 11,714 votes.

Patnaik had, much earlier, made up his mind against renominating Misra from Puri this time. That’s because Misra has become unpopular and also courted controversy. He has been associated with former Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Mohua Maitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha for multiple misdeeds.

The BJP’s argument is that it is in a very strong position in Puri, and that the controversies surrounding Misra had made him and his party unpopular.

But the BJD has been contending that the anti-incumbency is against Misra and not the party. Since the party (BJD) leadership had decided to replace Misra this time, a new BJD candidate will be able to win the seat.

The BJD also claims that the new Puri Parikrama Prakalpa, which has vastly increased the footfalls of pilgrims in the temple town, has boosted the popularity of Patnaik and the party in Puri. Thus, a BJD candidate can surely win this seat. 

Another argument put forth by the BJD is that it had won all the seven assembly segments under the Puri Lok Sabha seat by handsome margins. Hence, its popularity has not waned in Puri.

Patnaik rushed his closest aides V K Pandian and Pranab Prakash Das to New Delhi on a private jet on 7 March to confer with the top BJP leadership in a bid to resolve the stalemate.

The two returned to Bhubaneswar on Friday (8 March). Pandian and Das met Home Minister Amit Shah and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

It is learnt that some headway has been made in resolving the impasse over the two seats, and that the BJD may ultimately give in to the BJP’s demands. 

However, a formal announcement about the alliance is unlikely before early next week. That’s because the top leadership of both the parties want to use the weekend to reach out to their leaders and grassroots-level functionaries and workers who have deep misgivings over the alliance. 

The BJP state party unit is not happy with the prospective alliance with the BJD. President Manmohan Samal and a clutch of senior state leaders, who had gone to Delhi earlier this week, told the central leadership that an alliance with the BJD would hinder the BJP’s growth in the state.

"We told the central leadership that the BJP is gaining ground very fast in the state and the BJD is becoming increasingly unpopular because of mounting anti-incumbency against the party. We should contest elections on our own. If we join hands with the BJD, we will be conceding the opposition space to the Congress and giving the party (the Congress), which is a spent force in Odisha, a fresh lease of life," BJP state vice-president Prithviraj Haricharan told Swarajya.

State BJP leaders have told the party’s top central leadership — they met Shah and party chief J P Nadda, among others — that if the BJP has to form an alliance with the BJD, the party should insist on contesting a larger number of assembly seats than the 47 that the party is inclined to settle for.

State BJP leaders contend that the BJP should revive the earlier seat-sharing formula between the two parties when they were in alliance between 2000 and 2009.

In the 2000 and 2004 assembly elections, the BJD contested 84 seats, while the BJP fielded candidates from 63 seats. The BJP state leaders feel that such an arrangement would be fairer and more justifiable than the 100-47 formula (100 for the BJD and 47 for the BJP) that the BJP central leadership has settled for.

However, the BJP state leaders have left the final decision to the party central leadership. "We have apprised our central leadership of the ground realities in Odisha and the sentiments of the state unit and our workers here. But we will accept whatever the central leadership decides," said Haricharan.

Many BJD leaders, on the other hand, have serious misgivings over joining hands with a party that’s an arch-rival in the state. These BJD leaders have conveyed to Patnaik the sentiments of the workers who are opposed to an alliance with the BJP.

They feel it will be difficult to convince the party workers to work for BJP candidates. Even the BJD’s loyal supporters and voters are unlikely to honour the alliance and vote for BJP candidates. This will render the alliance ineffective and allow the Congress to emerge as a force.

However, the top leadership of both the parties are keen on stitching the alliance. Top sources in both the parties say it is not a matter of if but when an announcement on the alliance is made.