BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Saturday asserted that the saffron party will fight the next elections alone in Odisha and form the government too. Yadav was responding to questions posed by media persons if the BJP will forge an alliance with BJD for the next election.
Clearing the air on speculations over a possible BJD-BJP alliance which gained currency after the recent visit of Shah, who held a secret meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the state secretariat after jointly presiding over two official meetings, Yadav said, “We will fight election alone in Odisha and form the next government on our own.”
As the two parties, who were partners till 2009 before BJD parted ways, are cosying up once again when general elections are eight months away, the curious development has left their party workers and political pundits baffled.
While the Congress described the recent visit of Shah to the state as a ‘thanksgiving’ visit for the BJD backing the NDA government on the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and opposing the non-confidence motion of I.N.D.I.A constituents, the state BJP leaders are still figuring out the purpose of his visit and his showering praises lavishly on the chief minister.
Though Shah clarified that there was no secret understanding with the regional party as it was made out by some opposition political parties including BJD, many leaders of the state BJP are still not convinced. Earlier, state BJP president Manmohan Samal had said that his party will fight alone in all the 147 Assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha seats and form the next government in the state.