By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 11, 2018: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday congratulated the Congress, the TRS and MNF for their electoral victory.

“This shows the mood of the nation,” Patnaik told reporters while ruling grand alliance at the national level now and asserted that the Biju Janata Dal maintains equidistance from both the saffron party and the Congress.

“There is no firm “mahagatbandhan” at the moment and let’s see what happens in the future,” Mr Patnaik told reporters while replying to a question on such an alliance being formed against the BJP at the national level.

He said the Centre’s neglect of farmers was a key reason behind the BJP’s defeat in the states which are predominantly agrarian.

“The central government has done very little for the farmers as regards minimum support price (MSP) and implementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Committee recommendations,” said Patnaik.

Top leaders of 21 Opposition parties had on Monday met in New Delhi and vowed to forge a united front to fight and defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, alleging “systematic denigration of democracy” and assault on the Constitution and institutions like the RBI under the BJP government.

Mr Patnaik has so far not attended any meetings of the grand alliance nor did he send any BJD representative to attend the discussions.

Asked about the possibility of an alliance ahead of the 2019 general elections in Odisha, Mr Patnaik said, “As I said often before, the BJD remains equidistant from both the BJP and the Congress party.”

Odisha Assembly elections are due next year along with the Lok Sabha elections.