Naveen Rejects Alliance With Congress

Bhubaneswar: BJD president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday rejected to have a truck with Congress.

He said there was no question of having any alliance with Congress party, which has always acted against the interest of the state.

He said his party would maintain equidistance from both BJP and Congress.

Notably, BJD parliamentary party leader Bhartruhari Mahatab on Wednesday had  indicated that it was willing to join a grand alliance against the BJP if it is formed.

“Our position is that we may reconsider our stand of equidistance from both the Congress and BJP. Politics is dynamic and nobody is untouchable. In 1997, when everyone considered BJP as untouchable, we had allied with it,” said Bhartruhari Mahtab, BJD’s Parliamentary Party leader in the Lok Sabha.