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BJP, BJD embrace on Orissa contest

The dispute on seat-sharing between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal for the assembly election in Orissa has been resolved.

The BJP will put up its candidates in 63 constituencies while the BJD will contest 84, BJP spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu said Saturday.

He said the agreement was arrived at on the basis of the seats contested by the BJP and BJD in the last Lok Sabha election.

Of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Orissa, the BJD had put up candidates in 12, winning 10, while the BJP was victorious in all the nine seats it contested.

Naidu said the state unit has been authorised to consult the BJD to identify the seats.

He evaded the question who would be projected as chief minister. Such matters would be discussed later, he said.

Naidu said talks on identification of seats in Bihar and seat-sharing in Haryana were still on. He was hopeful of the issues being resolved by Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress will support the BJP-BJD alliance if it comes to power, its all-India general secretary Dinesh Trivedi has said.

The TC, which is contesting the assembly election for the first time in Orissa, might also share power with, he added.

Though his party is not part of the National Democratic Alliance, Trivedi continued, it had nothing against the constituents of the alliance. Since the party wanted to expand its base, it had decided to field candidates in Orissa.

He said the party had initiated discussions with the BJD representative and Union Steel Minister Dillip Ray about seat-sharing, but had failed to get any response.

Trivedi hoped the TC's participation in the election would help the NDA.

TC's Orissa convenor Bhajaman Behera said the party would put up around 60 candidates. For the first phase, it has finalised the names of 15 candidates. Five more would be cleared by Sunday.

Behera, who is to file his nomination from the Athamallik constituency, said the TC along with the Janata Dal (United) and the Samata Party would put up around 120 candidates.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT:
BJP, BJD fall out on seat-sharing

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