With barely a few months to go for the Lok Sabha elections, Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday, 9 January, announced that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will not join the Mahagathbandhan – or the Grand Alliance.
The Odisha Chief Minister further said the party will continue to remain equidistant from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Earlier, on Tuesday, party president Patnaik had said he needed more time to firm his decision.
BJP Shifts Focus to Odisha
The BJP has stepped up efforts to increase its footprint in Odisha. It had won only one out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 parliamentary elections. The BJD had won 20 seats and the Congress zero.
After its impressive win in panchayat elections in the state in 2017, the BJP has shifted focus on the state with an aim to upstage the BJD.
The success of the BJP in the 2017 panchayat elections in Odisha has led to predictions that the party will emerge as the largest party in the state in the 2019 elections.
Interestingly, nine MPs of the BJD had voted in favour of NDA nominee Harivansh Narayan Singh in the election to the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman held in August last year.
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