The Hindu : BJD-BJP alliance may face rebels in many seats

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 24, 2004

National

National

BJD-BJP alliance may face rebels in many seats

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 23. The ruling Biju Janata Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance is facing the prospect of a large number of rebels entering the poll fray in the coming days.

That the alliance is heading for trouble became evident when disgruntled BJD workers protested the denial of Assembly ticket to their leaders outside the residence of the Chief Minister and BJD president, Naveen Patnaik, early this morning. The Chief Minister also faced the ire of BJD and BJP workers when he visited Koraput during the day. The workers of both the parties are upset by the BJD's last minute decision to field Gupta Prasad Das, a defector from the Congress, in Koraput. The alliance is sure to face hurdles primarily because the parties failed to exchange some Assembly seats as announced earlier. The swapping was intended to brighten their winning prospects. The alliance failed to reach an agreement mainly because the BJP's State unit President, Manmohan Samal, remained firm on contesting from Dhamnagar, which he had lost to a BJD rebel in the February 2000 Assembly elections.

The BJD on Sunday announced its list of candidates for the 84 seats that it will contest. The Assembly segments where the alliance will find the going tough include the Biramitrapur seat in Sundargarh, Dhamnagar in Bhadrak, and Ramachandrapur and Champua segments in Keonjhar district.

The BJP had unsuccessfully contested these seats in the last elections. BJD rebels had won from Dhamnagar, Champua, and Ramachandrapur, and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha candidate, George Tirkey, had bagged the Biramitrapur seat.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National