The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that it will not form an alliance with the Biju Janata Dal for the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly polls in Odisha.

Odisha has 21 Lok Sabha constituencies and 147 Assembly seats.

BJP’s Odisha chief Manmohan Samal on Friday expressed gratitude to Naveen Patnaik, the chief of the Biju Janata Dal, for supporting the saffron party in the Center in “several matters of national importance”.

However, Samal said in a social media post, many welfare schemes of the Union government are not reaching the ground, depriving the people in the state of its benefits.

“Experience has shown that wherever there has been a double-engine government in the country, development and welfare work has accelerated and the state has progressed in every field,” Samal said.

He added that the BJP has concerns on several issues related to Odisha’s identity and the interest of the people of the state.

Voting for the Lok Sabha seats in Odisha will take place in four phases on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The Assembly elections in the state will be held simultaneously on these days.

Friday’s announcement comes days after Patnaik’s close aide VK Pandian said that the two parties are in talks for an alliance.

“Two great leaders [Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Patnaik] want to come together for a greater cause,” he said at News18’s Rising Bharat Summit on March 19. “It has significance as two people coming together as a mark of statesmanship.”