They vigorously competed during the simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha. But arch political rivals, Biju Janata Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party, appear to be coming close in the wake of the elections that saw BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik becoming the chief minister for a record fifth term and the saffron party improving its Lok Sabha tally in the state to eight from just one seat in 2014.
The renewed bonhomie between the two parties, which had parted ways in 2009 after ruling the state in tandem for more than nine years, was clearly visible last week when Patnaik announced his party’s support for Ashwini Vaishnav, a former Odisha cadre IAS officer, as a Rajya Sabha candidate following a request from Modi and Amit Shah. The 1994-batch officer, who had served as private secretary to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, joined the BJP soon after the announcement.