By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: With speculations are on ripe, 5T-Nabin Odisha Chairman VK Pandian and BJD Organisation general secretary Pranab Prakash Das on Thursday evening rushed to New Delhi in a special flight from Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar.
Both Pandian and Das are expected to finalise the seat sharing agreement with BJP central leadership by tonight or by tomorrow. As per sources, both BJD and BJP have agreed on Lok Sabha seat sharing but final call on Assembly seats yet to be taken. BJP may fight in 13 or 14 Lok Sabha seats while rest will go to BJD out of total 21 seats in Odisha.
For Assembly, apart from its 23 sitting seats, BJP is insisting on seats which it lost by a margin below 3,000 to 4,000 votes in 2019 while BJD not a mood to concede it and so final call yet not taken. With Pandian and Das, 2 most trusted lieutenants of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik rushing to National Capital amid speculations over BJD-BJP coalition after 15 years break up, some final outcome may emerged within next few hours.
Some 160 days left from today for Naveen Patnaik to set the record as longest serving Chief Minister of any Indian State, surpassing Sikkim’s Pawan Kumar Chamling but things not looking easy for this time, and BJD Supremo now in a hurry.
Reluctant to politics, Naveen Patnaik in fact ventured following intervention from former Prime Minister IK Gujural and later he was nurtured by another former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to set his feet in Indian politics from New Delhi to Aska and Hinjli in Ganjam to Bhubaneswar, the State Capital.
Sensing the mood and internal disturbances in BJD in various districts and excessive intervention by VK Pandian into Party and Government affairs, which angered party’s ranks and files, the BJD boss is now in a damage control exercise to save his chair for 6th term.
