New Delhi:
NDTV's exit poll shows that the BJP is set to win five of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, where it had scored a duck in the 2009 election. (
Full Coverage: NDTV Exit Polls)
The party has apparently made big gains at the cost of the Congress, which is expected to win three seats - half its previous tally - to place third.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal, or BJD, is expected to win 13 seats, a seat less than 2009.
Mr Patnaik insists that he is equidistant from the Congress and the BJP, but his party today indicated that he may not be averse to doing business with his old ally, the BJP.
Sources say it comes from the realisation that his anti-Modi stance may have cost him votes in the national and state elections. Mr Modi's rallies in western and southern Odisha drew impressive crowds.