Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Friday announced that it will field candidates in all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly seats in the state.
The declaration came hours after the opposition BJP said that it would go solo in the upcoming elections, which will be held simultaneously.
Talks on pre-poll alliance were being held between the ruling BJD and the opposition BJP for the past few days.
“BJD will contest in all 147 assembly constituencies and all 21 Lok Sabha (seats),” BJD organising secretary Pranab Prakash Das posted on X.
Odisha will go to simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and assembly in four phases – May 13, 20, 25 and June 1.
Das claimed that the regional party would win more than three-fourth of the seats.
“With blessings of Lord Jagannath and faith of the people of Odisha, BJD has been serving the state and transforming it like never before in every sector,” he said.
Earlier in the day, BJP Odisha president Manmohan Samal said that his party will go solo in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
“Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will fight this election alone in all 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats to create a developed India and a developed Odisha under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to fulfil the hopes, aspirations and aspirations of four and a half crore Odiyas,” Samal said in a post on X.
The BJP state president also claimed that many of the welfare schemes of the Modi government are not reaching the grassroots level, and the poor people of Odisha failed to the benefits. The BJD and the BJP were in alliance for around 11 years between 1998 and 2009 and fought three Lok Sabha and two Assembly elections together. Earlier this week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said in Delhi that BJP national president J P Nadda will take a final call on the alliance with the BJD. The talks, however, fell apart.
PTI