Why are the BJD and BJP joining forces against Congress in Odisha

Fifteen years after they parted ways, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Odisha's number one and two parties, are likely to join forces against the number three party, an enfeebled Congress, for the forthcoming elections to the state's 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats.

The alliance is likely to be formally announced soon. It will mark a return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of one of its original constituents. The BJD was part of the NDA when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee shaped it in May 1998. In January, another constituent of the