• Source:PTI
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Lok Sabha Polls 2024: Amid the speculations of a possible alliance between the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha for the Lok Sabha and state Assembly elections, both parties held separate meetings to discuss the potential of forming an alliance, however, none of the parties has disclosed if they would run together after 15 years.

On Thursday, BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sent his close aide VK Pandian and organisational secretary Pranap Prakash Das to New Delhi for a discussion with the BJP top brass. However, the details of the discussion are not yet known. This comes after BJD leaders held a marathon meeting at the Chief Minister's residence on Wednesday.

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After the Wednesday meeting, the senior BJP leaders said the party's decision would be in the 'larger interest of the state', but a number of legislators were unsure whether they could contest the next elections. "Nobody has any idea whether he or she would be able to contest. Any seat may fall in the share of either party," said a BJD leader who attended the meeting at Naveen Niwas, the residence of CM Patnaik.

Even very senior BJD leaders are not sure whether they could contest from their existing seats, he said adding that the party's electoral alliance was broken exactly 15 years ago on March 8, 2009, following the BJP's demand for more seats. The two parties have not yet formalised their seat-sharing arrangement, despite having initially agreed in principle to form an alliance.

According to BJD insiders, the BJP has been demanding 55 seats in the alliance, but the ruling party, which has 114 members in the 147-member Odisha Assembly, would want to keep its seats in the coalition. While BJD wants at least 112 assembly seats leaving the remaining 35 for the BJP, it has not been accepted by the leaders of the saffron party.

BJD leader Sasmit Patra had predicted that the regional party would win in 120 seats before the coalition idea came to the fore. In response, the BJP, which has eight Lok Sabha members from Odisha, has been pressing for 14 out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state. However, news agency PTI reported citing sources that the BJD is willing to give up just 10.