ALL ABOUT NAVEEN PATNAIK
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What led to Naveen Patnaik's victory in Orissa?
Published on Thu, May 21, 2009 at 15:04, Updated on Thu, May 21, 2009 at 15:18 in IBNPolitics » General News section
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Bhubaneswar: After sweeping Orissa elections, Naveen Patnaik sworn in as the state’s Chief Minister on Thrusday. He took oath both in the Lok Sabha and in the state assembly.
When Naveen joined state politics in 1997, he knew French better than Oriya. He was the Doon School type high flier. The transformation of Naveen later on into a ruthless politician surprised many but the politically stunning part came in 2009.
Naveen’s party Biju Janata Dal (BJD) swept the polls and that too after snapping the 11-year-old tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Of the 147 assembly seats the BJD alone got 103, Congress got 27 and BJP could manage only six seats.
In the Lok Sabha elections the BJD got 14 seats, Congress got six, BJP got none and CPI got one.
The BJD's vote share also rose from 27 per cent in the last election to almost 39 per cent this time.
How did Naveen Patnaik pull out this master stroke?
The number one factor is Naveen himself. He has superbly kept his image clean and simple.
The son of legendary Biju Patnaik did a Karunanidhi in Orrisa. The Rs 2 a kg rice for the poor, just few months before the election worked really well.
Also the Congress in the state was a divided house without any credible state leader. But the final act was BJD dumping BJP, thus washing away the stains of Khandamal communal violence.
“Breaking the ties with the BJP has worked. The BJP was weak and dangerous in Orissa and was also making us weak. We would have sit in the Opposition had we not broken the alliance,” says BJD leader and Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra.
The Naveen phenomenon had such an impact stalwarts like Bijoy Mohapatra, Nalinikannta Mohanty, Braja Kishore Tripathy and BB Harichandan have bitten the dust.
“After this victory we will work even harder to fulfill the responsibilities the people of Orissa have given us,” says Naveen.
He has become the Chief Minister of Orissa for the third time in a row and this is a record in Orissa. Now the challenge before Naveen Patnaik is to meet the huge expectations of the people of Orissa after this landslide victory.
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