Bhubaneswar: Amid the growing uncertainty surrounding a possible alliance between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), BJP’s election in-charge for Odisha, Vijayapal Singh Tomar reached Bhubaneswar on Saturday and attended the party’s state election committee meeting.The meeting chaired by BJP state president Manmohan Samal and attended among by others Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Biseswar Tudu, discussed names of potential candidates for Lok Sabha and assembly elections to be held simultaneously in the state.On being asked about a possible alliance between the BJP and the BJD, Tomar said that the party was ready with the strategy and would fight with its full might in the general elections.”We have chalked out our strategy. We will divulge details only after the party’s meeting…With our full strength, we will fight in the upcoming election,” said Tomar without clearing the air on the possibility of a BJP-BJD alliance.The prospect of alliance between BJD and BJP ahead of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls has not only sent leaders of both parties into a tizzy but also pushed voters in Odisha into utter chaos and confusion.Even as the dates for the upcoming election were announced on Saturday, suspense over the possible alliance between the ruling and opposition party continued to linger with none of the leaders of both parties opening their mouth on the matter. Moreover, Union home minister Amit Shah’s comments on Friday evening that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP national president JP Nadda will take the call on party’s Odisha poll programme,On the other hand, infighting between BJD leaders is getting bitter with each passing day amid the confusion. Reports from various parts of the state said prospective candidates have been pushing hard to get tickets.As per the admission of the BJD’s second most powerful leader Pranab Prakash Das, more than ten thousand candidates have applied for 147 assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha berths in the state.
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