BJD to finalise seat-sharing arrangement with left by Tuesday

BHUBANESWAR: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) hopes to finalise its seat-sharing arrangement with new allies - CPI, CPI (M) and NCP- by Tuesday, when filing of nomination begins for the forthcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Orissa, scheduled to be held on April 16 and 23.

The party has held at least three rounds of talks with each of them. The allies submitted their lists of constituencies to the BJD where they claim to have much influence. The parleys continued on Saturday, but remained inclusive.

While the NCP leader and Union civil aviation minister Prafulla Patel led his party in negotiations with the BJD, state leaders of Left parties participated in seat sharing talks with the ruling party.

"We have heard their views and put forth ours before them. The seat sharing is most likely to be finalized by Tuesday", the BJD���s chief strategist Pyarimohan Mahapatra said here.

"We held seat sharing talks with our allies individually. All the meeting were held in a cordial manner," he added.

According to BJD sources, the NCP has given a list of at least 25 Assembly constituencies and two LS seats where the party wants to field candidates. Similarly, the CPI has sought a share of 20 Assembly constituencies and 4 LS seats and CPI (M) wanted to contest in 20 Assembly seats and one LS constituency.

The BJD, however, was planning to share only four Assembly seats and one LS constituency with each of them, party insiders said.

Two other parties- Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and SUCI- which had supported the Naveen Patnaik government in the trial of strength on the floor of the Assembly on March 11, have not come forward for pre-poll understanding with BJD till date.

This has given rise to speculation that these parties may fight the polls separately.