Asked about his party's stand on joining the "mahagathbandhan", Patnaik said, "We will take some time and think about it." The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has stepped up efforts to increase footprint in Odisha. It had won only one out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 parliamentary elections. The BJD had won 20 seats and the Congress zero. After its impressive win in panchayat elections in the state in 2017, the BJP has shifted focus on the state with an aim to upstage the BJD.

Source: dna January 08, 2019 18:11 UTC