Bhubaneswar, Mar 3: Biju Janata Dal, the poll partner of BJP in Orissa which has bagged nine out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, has reiterated that it would work with the saffron party in the post poll scenario."The mandate in Orissa was in favour of the BJP-BJD combine. So there is no question of betraying the people in the aftermath of the elections. We would extend full support to BJP in forming the government at the Centre", the BJD president Navin Patnaik told "The Financial Express'. Patnaik who returned to Bhubaneswar on Tuesday evening after attending the "victory ceremony" at Aska said his party would participate in the BJP led government if invited by the saffron party.
The RJD's senior leader and parliamentary committee chairman Bijoya Mohapatra, on the other hand, clarified that under no circumstance his party would support any other government in which the Congress is a constituent. He said the mandate in Orissa was against the misrule of the Congress government.
Stating that theBJP-BJD combine swept the elections in the state because of its anti-Congressisms, he said his party would continue its fight against the corrupt Congress with the help of BJP.
The BJP-BJD alliance has bagged 16 out of 21 seats in the state. While the BJP has come out victorious in 7 out of 9 seats it contested, the BJD has won 9 seats out of 13 where it fielded its candidates. The ruling Congress which had 17 members in last Lok Sabha faced rout as it could win only five seats. And the Janata Dal led United Front suffered the worst humilation at the hustings. Not only its candidates lost the elections but also lost their deposits.
Poll observers say that it was a mandate against the JB Patnaik government in Orissa. They point out that JB Patnaik's son-in-law Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and his proteges like Sarat Patnaik, Bhakta Charan Das, Mustafiz Ahemed and Sunil Singhdeo have lost the election.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
