Obviously at Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik’s instance, party vice-president and Minister Damodar Rout on Monday dropped a political bombshell inviting the Congress to enter into a coalition with the regional outfit to keep the “communal” Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay in the State’s politics.
Rout said at a news conference here that the Congress may propose a list of the Assembly constituencies out of the total 147 in which it has winning possibilities and Naveen Patnaik would decide as to which seats the BJD would leave to the Congress for contest.
The whole purpose is a united fight by “secular” forces against the BJP, which is increasingly exhibiting “communal tendencies” in the country, Rout said. The Congress is a secular party, he maintained.
In their reactions, Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan and leader of Opposition the State Assembly Narasingha Mishra told reporters that the BJD’s view that the BJP is a communal force is justified. However, the issue of an alliance between the BJD and the Congress is a matter to be decided by the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar remarked that to the BJP both the BJD and the Congress are “zeros” in Odisha in the context of the next elections; so, any alliance between them is immaterial for the BJP.
Political observers are of the view that the BJD is holding out a coalition offer to the Congress in view of the BJP’s increasing efforts to edge out the BJD from power in the next general elections with 120 plus Assembly seats as claimed by BJP national president Amit Shah.