Today in Politics: Is breakthrough imminent in BJP-BJD seat-sharing talks?

Buzz around the alliance between the BJP and Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha gained pace on Tuesday after comments from the Odisha CM’s close aide V K Pandian.

Sources said the alliance could be announced as early as Wednesday. The talks gained momentum a couple of weeks ago but were held up over differences on how many seats each party would contest in the Assembly elections.

“Naveen Patnaik is undoubtedly going to be CM of the state and Narendra Modi is going to be the PM of the country. But there is something which is beyond politics. It is a mark of great statesmanship. That is how I put it,” Pandian said on Tuesday at the Rising Bharat Summit organised in New Delhi by CNN News-18 in partnership with The Hindustan Times.

BJP insiders said senior leaders such as Odisha BJP in-charge Sunil Bansal, state unit president Manmohan Samal, and leaders from the state such as Baijayant Panda and Dharmendra Pradhan held at least a four-long meeting at the party office about the alliance.

In context: Rumours about the BJP returning to the NDA fold gathered pace after the ruling party supported Ashwini Vaishnaw’s Rajya Sabha candidature. However, they reached a stalemate after sources confirmed hard bargaining on both sides, especially over Assembly seats, with the state seeing simultaneous elections along with the Lok Sabha.

The BJD reportedly wants to contest more than 100 of the total 147 Assembly seats. For the Lok Sabha, there is an overall agreement that the BJP will contest as much as two-thirds of the seats.

Recommended readings: BJD-BJP talks hit Assembly polls stalemate, BJD wants lion’s share

The Congress is likely to release its third list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.

The party’s