“Alliance talks are based on statesmanship,” observed Biju Janata Dal (BJD) heir apparent and former bureaucrat V K Pandian, in an interview just before the arrangement between the BJD and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) collapsed and died ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Odisha (being held simultaneously on May 13). Statesmanship would not appear to be the casualty here: Since then, neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has criticised each other in public meetings. Mr Modi’s target has been the Congress while Mr Patnaik has described his work in the state
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