Alliance with Congress or BJP impossible: Naveen Patnaik

NEW DELHI - Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday came down strongly on erstwhile ally Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said in the same breath that it was not possible for his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to form an alliance with the Congress either.

‘The BJD would find it impossible to ally with BJP and certainly not with the Congress,’ Patnaik told the NDTV 24X7 news channel shortly after voting started in 11 Lok Sabha and 77 assembly constituencies in Orissa.

Patnaik said that his preference was for a non-BJP and non-Congress government at the centre after the elections.

Asked about the possibility of an alliance with the BJP in Orissa if his party falls short of majority in the assembly elections, Patnaik said: ‘We are quite confident that we will secure majority on our own.’

He added that after the communal violence in Kandhamal last year, ‘it became virtually impossible to carry on with BJP’ and he decided to sever ties with it. ‘The BJP’s ticket to Ashok Sahu is dangerous for any civilised society,’ he added.

Sahu is contesting from Kandhamal, where 38 people - most of them Christians - were killed in riots last year after the murder of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader and four of his associates.