Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], June 5 (ANI): Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief and former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a meeting with the newly elected party MLAs on Wednesday and said that the state’s poverty rate declined from 70 to 10 per cent in the 24 years that he held office.
While speaking at a meeting with the newly-elected MLAs of his party, Patnaik said, “When I first became the CM, 70 per cent of the people of Odisha were living below the poverty line, which has now been reduced to 10 per cent. Our efforts in the agriculture and irrigation sectors and women’s empowerment have led to this achievement. We have nothing to be ashamed of.”
The BJD chief said that his party served the people of Odisha for the last 24 years and will continue to work for the state.
Earlier in the day, Patnaik tendered his resignation to Governor Raghubar Das, following the defeat of his party in the assembly polls.
The BJP stormed to power in Odisha by securing 78 of the 147 assembly seats, while the BJD managed to win 51 seats. Congress bagged 14 constituencies and CPI (M) secured one, while three independent candidates also emerged victorious. The results were announced on Tuesday.
After the meeting with outgoing Odisha CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, newly elected MLA Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo said, “We discussed the 24 years of good work of the Naveen Patnaik government and we will continue to work in the same manner for the betterment of Odisha.”
Newly elected MLA Ramakant Bhoi also spoke to ANI after the meeting and said, “We had discussions about rectifying our shortcomings and mistakes and discussing the future strategy. We have done development work but we should respect the opinion of the public.”
Newly elected MLA Pratap Keshari Deb also told ANI, “Today we had our first meeting with our party president, Naveen Patnaik, after the election. The party president has asked that there be an in-house discussion as to where we went wrong and that we need to be united.”
After a massive defeat in the State Assembly and Parliamentary elections, the 24-year-old tenure of Odisha CM and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik concluded as he submitted his resignation to Odisha Governor Raghubar Das at the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
The Biju Janata Dala, which has ruled Odisha since 1997, lost to the BJP, breaking the 24-year-old reign of Naveen Patnaik as the Chief Minister.
The Bharatiya Janata Party secured 78 seats in the 147-seat assembly. The BJD secured 51 seats, way behind the majority mark of 74 and the Indian National Congress secured 14 seats.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP performed well by securing 20 out of the 21 parliamentary seats in the state. The remaining one seat was won by Congress.
Naveen Patnaik had made an unexpected entry into state politics through the BJD, a party named after his father, the former Odisha CM Biju Patnaik.
His political journey began with a victory in the 1998 Lok Sabha by-poll, representing his father’s constituency of Aska. Following the BJD’s success in the 2000 Assembly elections, forming a coalition with the BJP and gaining a majority, Patnaik resigned from his position in the Union Cabinet to assume the role of chief minister.
Since then, he has been the second longest-serving Chief Minister after Sikkim CM Pawan Kumar Chamling.
The counting of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was held on Tuesday. According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 240 seats, much lower than its 2019 tally of 303.
The Congress, on the other hand, registered a strong growth, winning 99 seats. The INDIA bloc crossed the 230 mark, posing stiff competition, and defying all predictions. (ANI)
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