BHUBANESWAR: Leaders of 17 non-BJP and non-BJD political parties led by Congress met here for the second time on Wednesday to stitch up an alliance to fight both the Central and the state governments. Besides the Congress, CPM and CPI were the other political parties that attended the meeting.
Sources said the alliance in the state will be in line with the anti-BJP front ‘INDIA’ formed at the central level. Talks on seat sharing between the Congress and Left parties will start after clearance by the central alliance.
However, it is yet to be decided whether AAP, TMC and NCP which attended the meeting will be part of the seat-sharing formula. NCP had a seat understanding with the BJD in the 2009 elections and won four Assembly seats. However, all four NCP MLAs joined BJD later.
President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak told media persons that a state-level convention of all the 17 political parties will be held in Bhubaneswar on August 11 to finalise issues on which the anti-BJP and anti-BJD campaign will be launched. More than 1,000 leaders of the political parties including some national leaders are expected to attend the convention.
Pattanayak said the opposition front in Odisha will launch a campaign across the state against the Centre and the state government to remove both the BJP and BJD from power. There has always been a tacit understanding between the BJD and BJP that the alliance will emerge as the real opposition in Odisha, he added.
It was decided that the alliance will make the silence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and BJD on the Manipur crisis an issue during the campaign. Even after so many days of the incident, why are the chief minister and BJD silent on it, he asked adding a statewide campaign will be launched over the issue. Similarly, growing unemployment in the state, an increase in the number of atrocities against women and a lack of development will also be raised.