Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the general elections, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday ruled out his party joining the grand alliance (Mahagathbandhan) but asserted his party would continue to maintain equidistance from both BJP and the Congress.
The Chief Minister’s suggestion makes it amply clear that the BJD will go it alone until the general elections.
Addressing reporters here, Naveen said, “I want to clarify that as far as Mahagathbandhan is concerned, the BJD is not a party to it. We will continue with our policy of equidistance from the BJP and the Congress.”
The Chief Minister’s statement is significant as several non-BJP parties are trying to forge an alliance in an effort to take on the ruling alliance in the Lok Sabha elections, 2019.
Patnaik’s statement comes a day after he said during his visit to Delhi Tuesday that his party needed time to take a decision on Mahagathbandhan. “We will take some time and think about it,” he had said.
The Chief Minister also ruled out speculations in certain quarters about possibility of a Cabinet reshuffle as vacancy has been created following the resignation of Panchayati Raj Minister Pradeep Maharathy and removal of Damodar Rout.
There is no plan to reshuffle the ministry, Naveen said.
Earlier, the BJD chief had announced that he would support a proposed federal front – an alliance of non-Congress and non-BJP parties which was mooted by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR). Patnaik during his meeting with KCR last month, had indicated that, “We are all state teams.” Political analysts here suggest that the BJD’s strategy at this juncture is to acquire a bargaining power, if it joins hands with non-BJP and non-Congress parties.
KCR and Patnaik had emphasised earlier about unification of regional parties to provide an alternative to the Congress and the BJP ahead of the 2019 general elections. KCR wants to forge an alliance of parties like – BJD, TMC, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (Secular), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and AIDMK. However, no concrete decision has been taken in this regard so far.
Meanwhile, state BJP general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan has expressed doubts about the existence of any grand alliance in the country. On the other hand, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Niranjan Patnaik lashed out at Naveen Patnaik accusing him of being with the BJP all along, but claiming to have an “equal distance policy” only in self-defence. “If one votes for BJD it would mean a vote for BJP,” the Congress leader said. The Congress leader said BJD legislators had walked out during a no-confidence motion against the Modi government last year “which showed its affinity to the BJP”. Moreover, BJD had also supported NDA candidate in the Presidential elections, besides backing the Centre’s demonetisation and GST, they said.
BJD MPs had also voted in favour of NDA nominee Harivansh Narayan Singh during election for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman.
The ruling BJD was in an alliance with BJP for over a decade from 2000 to 2009. Thereafter, it has been maintaining distance from both the BJP and the Congress. Since 2009, the BJD has been fighting Lok Sabha as well as Assembly elections independently.
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