Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Modi eyes sweeping 21 Odisha seats with BJP-BJD reunion

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is all set to add Odisha-basedBiju Janata Dal (BJD) as its latest ally, The Indian Express reported.Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's party has reportedly finalised seat-sharing talks with the BJP and an official announcement to formalise BJD's role in the NDA could take place on Thursday (March 7).

March 7, 2024, marks exactly fifteen years since the BJD broke a decade-long alliance with the BJP and parted ways with the National Democratic Alliance. Both the parties are headed to contest the Lok Sabha as well as state assembly polls in an alliance, The Indian Express report further added.

BJP-BJD together: What does it mean?

A total of 21 Lok Sabha MPs are elected from Odisha. The BJP currently has eight of these seats against BJD's 12 and one was won by the Congress party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

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On six of the eight seats that the BJP won in 2019, the winning margin was between 3,600 and about 27,000 votes. This means that despite PM Modi's popularity, the BJP was unable to sway most voters away from the party of CM Naveen Patnaikwho continues to be immensely popular in the state.

Besides, there is a history of two parties sweeping the polls when they contested elections in an alliance.

The BJP-BJD alliance won 17 of 21 seats in the 1998 General Elections with a 48.7 per cent vote share. They bettered their tally to 19 seats in 1999, which slightly came down to 18 in 2004.

The BJP could be eyeing a sweep in Odisha on all 21 seats by allying with the BJD.

Was the BJP-BJD alliance brewing with Modi-Patnaik bonhomie?

In recent days, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Naveen Patnaik as a "Lokpriya (popular)" chief minister, Patnaik said that the prime ministerhad set the course for India to become "an economic powerhouse".

Despite not being part of the ruling coalition, the Biju Janata Dal has voted with the government on contentious issues such asthe Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Goods, and Services Tax (GST),demonetisation, and the proposal for one nation, one election, as well as the polls for the President’s post, both in 2017 and 2022.

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India is set to go to polls later this summer in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third consecutive term in power. The Congress party-led opposition has forged the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) to deny the BJP under Modi a third term.