BJD to continue alliance with BJP-Naveen

Bhubaneswar, May 13 (UNI) Rejecting some party leaders' suggestion to sever ties with the BJP in Orissa, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said such a proposition would rather cause the division of anti-Congress votes and help it in a big way.

Addressing the concluding session of the party's district level leaders at the party office here, Mr Patnaik said the party should think that no such step should be taken which would ultimately help consolidate the Congress with the division of the anti-Congress votes in the state.

Several BJD leaders from the districts alleged that the leaders of alliance partner BJP sabotaged the party's winning prospect in some of the Zilla Parishad seats in the recently concluded Panchayat elections in the state. They even went to the extent of saying that the role of the BJP in the Panchayat elections rather helped the Congress candidates to win the Zilla Parishad members post in many districts.

It was only BJD Parliament Member Arjun Charan Sethy who opposed the idea of having no truck with the BJP stating that such demand would only help the Opposition Congress to take the political advantage of the situation.

Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik did not favour the idea of snapping the alliance with the BJP in the state and asked the BJD leaders to visualise the effect of such demand which he said would help division of the anti-Congress votes in the state.

UNI