With reported disagreement over seat sharing between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Biju Janata Dal delaying the announcement of a formal alliance that entered the final stage, the Odisha Congress seems to be adopting a ‘wait and watch’ strategy to capitalise on the situation to their maximum advantage.
Congress sources said the finalisation and declaration of the party’s candidates for both Assembly and Lok Sabha seats will be delayed keeping the changing scenario in mind.
The Congress had launched Pragaman, a transparent and democratic process for submitting applications for MP and MLA candidates. More than 3,000 potential candidates have applied to fight election on Congress tickets. The final analysis of Pragaman was to be completed on Friday. However, the party has extended the deadline of Pragaman by two more days.
“If the two parties join hands, it will be very good news for us. A large number of people will come to join us. We will be victim of plenty. On ground, BJP and BJD candidates will try to ensure defeat of each other. It is happening now,” Ajoy Kumar, AICC in charge for Odisha, said.
The Congress party in Odisha finds itself in a precarious position, grappling with dwindling support from voters. Its vote share had plummeted to a historic low of 17.02% during the 2019 Assembly elections, trailing far behind the BJD’s 44.71% and the BJP’s 32.49%. Out of the 147 Assembly seats, Congress managed to secure only nine.
Senior Congress leaders said the proposed alliance had left grassroots workers of two parties in state of confusion. It would be Herculean task to convert the brewing discontentment into winning of seats in favour of Congress, given matchless vote percentage enjoyed by the BJP and the BJD in the last election. The ‘unholy nexus’ may have just triggered the wave in favour of the party, a leader opined.
“Cadres belonging to two parties, who a few weeks ago were at confrontational mode, cannot reconcile with the fact that they would face next elections through a united front. There is growing discontentment among workers that the leadership of two parties did not take them into confidence. People are opening voicing their displeasure threaten to abstain from voting,” a senior Congress leader said.
“The basic criteria of selection of candidates are survey and analysis of candidature through Pragaman. Some seats we have knowingly kept vacant as some people want to join us. In case of alliance, there will be exodus from two parties,” Mr. Kumar said.
Sources in the grand old party said it would weigh party’s prospects for sizeable Assembly and Lok Sabha seats after the BJP and the BJD declare seat sharing formula.
“People keep writing us off. The BJP and BJD are now in undeclared alliance. People understand this. We have now a structure in place. You will be pleasantly or superbly surprised when election results would come,” the AICC in-charge for Odisha said.
