BJD’s give and take with BJP

Six years after breaking up, the Biju Janata Dal and the BJP seem to be moving closer. The BJD walked out of the Lok Sabha during voting on the land bill, seen as part of a strategy to help the BJP through.

“The diktat was not to vote against the bill. We were free to decide to vote or not to vote,” a BJD MP told The Indian Express. The BJD has 20 MPs in the Lok Sabha but it is its seven MPs in the Rajya Sabha that could be crucial to the BJP.

Leader of the BJD Parliamentary Party Bharatruhari Mahtab said his party was not against the bill, but not all its concerns have been addressed. “It may so happen that some more amendments come in Rajya Sabha,” Mahtab said.

The BJD has reportedly agreed to support the mines and minerals amendment bill and the coal mines bill, a senior leader close to Naveen Patnaik said. “Our stand consistently has been that overall we support the bills, but as far as Orissa-related aspects are concerned we wanted amendments.”

The patch-up, say BJD sources, have come after Chief Minister Naveen met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. BJD sources said Naveen’s friendship offer to BJP was to keep the CBI at bay over a chit fund probe which has several top politicians under the scanner.

Orissa BJP president K V Singh Deo said all talks of BJD and BJP coming together was meaningless. “BJD is still the No 1 enemy for us in Orissa. I don’t think the PM would do anything that would hurt the party here,” he said.

Source:: Indian Express