The Congress leadership views the alliance talks between the BJP and the BJD in Odisha as a sign of "desperation" in both camps, arguing that such political acrobatics expose the "hollowness of the 400-plus seats boast".
Congress leaders believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other key strategists of the BJP understand they are sitting precariously on widespread voter discontent and the real objective beneath the camouflage of the “char-sau-paar” political grandstanding is to cross the halfway mark. They say the BJP had displayed "nervousness" by luring away Nitish Kumar and Jayant Chowdhary instead of showcasing the swagger of invincibility.
A senior Congress leader told The Telegraph: “Naveen Patnaik is grappling with 15-year anti-incumbency and Narendra Modi faces a 10-year-strong anti-incumbency. Both have flaunted invincibility but their actions betray nervousness. They know the ground is slipping beneath their feet and there is a need to hold hands to avoid falling. Nothing is more reassuring to us than the realisation that the BJP and the BJD are feeling the need for an alliance.”
The leader added: “While the BJD is worried about falling below the majority mark in the Assembly, the BJP is desperately seeking additional seats to reach 272 in the Lok Sabha. A party that is wallowing in wealth won’t pilfer pennies. They boast of 370 and are hunting for one or two seats everywhere. They used the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, for just a couple of seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Now this late marriage in Odisha has almost unravelled the plot.”
While a formal alliance between the BJD and the BJP will vindicate the Congress charge that the two parties had a tacit understanding and deliver to it the entire Opposition space in Odisha on a platter, it will also send out an unmistakable lack of confidence in both parties. A similar dilemma has compelled Mamata Banerjee to resist the temptation of aligning with the Congress and the Left in Bengal as she does not want the BJP to occupy the entire Opposition space.
The Congress has been in a pitiable state in Odisha; it won barely 16.12 per cent of the votes in the 2019 Assembly elections against the BJD’s 44.71 per cent and the BJP’s 32.49 per cent. The BJP had clearly replaced the Congress as the main Opposition there but the fact that it is contemplating a marriage with the BJD is a manifestation of changing electoral dynamics. Even in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had managed to win only one seat against the BJD’s 12 and the BJP’s 8.
But the Congress received a boost on Wednesday with the veteran Srikant Jena returning to its fold.
