Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik admitted that NDA is the bigger threat at the moment.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has told NDTV that he had "always considered the BJP as a communal party." Between 1998 and 2009, his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was an alliance partner of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.
"They (the BJP) were less so (communal) earlier," Naveen Patnaik said on the previous partnership.
He said he discovered the BJP's "true colours" after communal violence erupted in Kandhamal region in 2009, over which he ended his ties with the BJP. The riots, which broke out in the aftermath of the killing of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, saw local Christians being targeted by mobs.
Though no longer a formal member of the NDA, the BJD has lent tacit support to the BJP-led government at the Centre, and is expected to be one of the regional parties that the BJP might turn to, should it fall short of numbers in the national election starting Thursday.
But when asked if the BJP's "communal nature" may come in the way of the BJD extending support to them again, he said "it would".
Elections to Odisha's 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147 Assembly seats will be held simultaneously in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29.
Naveen Patnaik, 72, is fighting for a fifth straight term in the state. In the 2014 elections, the BJD had won 20 of the 21 parliamentary seats. The BJP won a single seat. This time, analysts see a dip in the party's tally, with the BJP making gains in the eastern state..
Mr Patnaik has also been fighting perception that he is "tired and unwell". For the health rumours, he accuses his rivals and also former aide-turned-rebel Jay Panda, who joined the BJP last month.
On April 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a public meeting in Kalahandi district, said the Odisha government was taking "10 minutes to walk 10 steps"; it was seen as a dig at Mr Patnaik even though PM Modi took no names.
Mr Patnaik, speaking to NDTV, said he saw the NDA as a "bigger threat" than the Congress.
"I don't treat either of them (Congress or BJP) as enemies, but neither do I treat them as friends." At the moment, he admitted, "NDA is the bigger threat."
Underlining his party's policy of equidistance from the Congress and the BJP, he said: "So, we will see, indeed it's doubtful, whether we will join up with either of them."