Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal on Thursday said that the saffron party will form government in Odisha without any other party's support.
BJP will form government in Odisha, said Manmohan Samal while denying any possibility of an alliance with BJD in the state. This statement of Samal has somehow put all speculations related to BJP-BJD alliance to rest.
“We will win the elections with the help and blessings of the people of Odisha and form the State government alone. We will fight the elections over the pride of the Odia people. We will make the government at the Centre for the third time and in Odisha, for the first time. Our election committee will meet tomorrow afternoon to discuss about our plans,” he said to the reporters.
The announcement came after his return from Delhi this morning. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had called another round of meeting on Wednesday. The state BJP leadership, which was camping in Delhi, met Home Minister Amit Shah. He held discussions with State BJP president Manmohan Samal, organisation secretary Manas Mohanty, election in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and co-in-charge Lata Usendi.
Speaking to reporters, BJP leader Pradeep Purohit said, "BJD's 25-year-rule in Odisha is going to end this year. Looking at the trust and support of the people of Odisha, Manmohan Samal has announced that BJP will fight the elections alone and is going to form the government here alone too.
On the other hand, as per sources, an emergency meeting will be held at Naveen Niwas today and some senior party leaders and the party’s district observers have reportedly been called to attend the meeting. The meeting is likely to discuss the bottlenecks in seat-sharing with the BJP.
Meanwhile, BJD MLA Sambeet Routray said, "All the talks about a possible coalition between us were made by the BJP leaders. They were running to Delhi to meet their Central leaders about an alliance. But we have said from the beginning that BJD will take a decision taking the interests of party and the people of Odisha into account. We do not have anything to comment on BJP's stand now."
"Even CM Naveen Patnaik had said that rumours and lies should not be believed in politics. We have never said anything about an alliance. We have said that the party Supremo will take the final call. If BJP did not want an alliance, then why was Samal running to Delhi every day. We did not ask him to go there. His actions and media bytes indicated and fuelled speculations that there will be an alliance.But no BJD leader or spokesperson ever said about an alliance. And as far as their claims of forming the government in Odisha is concerned, everybody knows what the result of Assembly elections is going to be," Routray added.