BJD severs ties with BJP as talks fail

In a major jolt to NDA ahead of Lok Sabha polls, BJD tonight severed its 11-year-old relationship with BJP as the seat-sharing talks between the two parties collapsed.

"Unfortunately, the seat-sharing talks between BJD and BJP have failed. Therefore, we will go to the polls separately", Orissa chief minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik told reporters here.

"The formula proposed by BJP is unacceptable to us", he said.

Patnaik's announcement came minutes after a last round of talks he had with BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra who was here as special emisary of BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani.

The last-ditch effort to save the alliance failed when BJP rejected BJD's proposal for lesser number of seats in both Lok Sabha and assembly segments than the previous ratio of 4:3.