Bhubaneswar, May 10: With the counting of ballots still three days away, political parties in Orissa are waiting with their fingers crossed for the outcome of the simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and assembly held recently.
While Naveen Patnaik-led BJD-BJP alliance is optimistic of retaining power in the state, the Congress-led five party alliance has claimed to be on a comeback trail.
Elections to the Parliament and assembly were held simultaneously---after a gap of 33 years---in two phases in the state on April 20 and 26 last.
Though the Naveen Patnaik-led government had one-year to go, the alliance decided to recommend dissolution of the assembly and hold elections along with the Lok Sabha polls. The Chief Minister described the move as one aimed to save the state exchequer an extra expenditure of Rs 100 crore and ensure that developmental works were not hampered.
Despite being confident initially of retaining power --- which they still are--leaders of both BJD and BJP now admit that they had a feeling that the contests appear to be "far more closer" in many constituencies than they had anticipated.
Bureau Report