By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will participate in an election rally organised here Friday by the Biju Janata Dal and its allies, including the Left parties, the BJD said Wednesday.
“We are jointly organising a massive rally. Those who are expected to attend include NCP chief Sharad Pawar and senior Left leaders such as A.B. Bardhan and Prakash Karat,” BJD general secretary Damodar Rout told IANS.
Asked if it can be called a Third Front rally, Rout clarified: “We have not joined the Third Front. We are jointly organising the rally because we have seat-sharing arrangements with them.”
After breaking the 11-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier last month, the BJD headed by Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has forged alliance with the NCP and the Left after the legislators of these parties voted for the BJD during a trust vote in the assembly.
Orissa goes to elections April 16 and April 23 to elect 147 members to the state assembly and 21 members to the Lok Sabha.
Rout said West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Forward Block secretary G. Devarajan and CPI national secretary D. Raja will also attend the rally.