The Hindu : National : Naveen leads alliance to victory in Assembly polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 14, 2004

National

National

Naveen leads alliance to victory in Assembly polls

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, MAY 13. The Biju Janata Dal president and Orissa Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, came out of his father, the late Biju Patnaik's shadow today when he led the BJD-BJP alliance to victory in the Assembly polls in the State.

The BJD-BJP combine has won 85 seats in the 147-member Assembly and was leading in seven other segments when results were announced for 138 seats.

The Congress and its allies won in 45 seats and were leading in two, while independents won eight seats. The Congress, however, improved upon its performance in the last election when it had only bagged 26 seats. "The Chief Minister's clean image, his crusade against corruption and the performance of the alliance Government in the past four years helped us win the polls," said the BJD secretary, Priyadarshi Mishra.

Talking to presspersons at his residence, a beaming Mr. Patnaik thanked the people of the State for reposing their faith in the BJD-BJP alliance.

Good governance and transparency were the factors that helped the combine win the polls, he said adding that the Government would continue its good work in its next term to realise Biju Patnaik's dream of building a prosperous Orissa.

Mr. Patnaik defeated Udaynath Nayak of the Congress by a margin of 40,000 votes. Mr. Patnaik had won the last election with a margin of 26,000 votes. However, three Ministers in the alliance Government lost the elections — Arabinda Dhali and Bedprakash Aggarwala from the BJP and Panchanan Kunungo from the BJD.

In the Congress, the former Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee president, J.B. Patnaik, won the Begunia Assembly seat, while the wife of the former Chief Minister, Giridhar Gamang, and former Lok Sabha MP, Hema Gamang, won from the Gunupur segment.

The prominent losers in the Congress included the former Chief Minister, Hemananda Biswal, and the Leader of the Opposition in the dissolved Assembly, Ramakanta Mishra.

The lone Janata Dal(S) candidate and president of the party's State unit, Ashok Das, was defeated in the Korei segment by Sanchita Mohanty of the BJP. She had lost to Mr. Das in the last election.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National