Fade up with the BJP’s reluctance for a pre-poll alliance, the two regional outfits, the Utakal Bharat and the Aama Odisha Party (AOP), on Thursday joined hands to fight all the 21 lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats together in the upcoming elections.
Under the new political arrangement, the Utkal Bharat would virtually lose its identity as would fight the election under Aama Odisha Party leadership and its ‘Pot’ (Mathia) symbol. Utkal Bharat chief Kharavela Swain and AOP president Soumya Ranjan Patnaik announced the new political equation at a joint Press conference here. “Shunning personal agenda, we have forged the new combine for the interest and all-round development of Odisha,” said both Patnaik and Swain.
They exuded hope that all the anti-BJD forces would come to their fold and their alliance would pose a true alternative to the ruling BJD. They announced that the alliance would fight all the 21 lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in the state and the list of candidates would be announced after detailed discussion on the seat-sharing arrangement to be held soon. The two parties would fight the election on the common symbol, ‘Pot’, said Swain.