BHUBANESHWAR, March 3: Bijay Mahapatra, the chairman of Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) political affairs committee, demanded today the resignation of the J B Patnaik government to seek a fresh mandate in view of the Congress rout in the state.The Congress retained only five out of a total of 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the rest went to the BJP-BJD alliance.
Briefing newspersons here following what he called the "historic verdict" in favour of the BJP-BJD alliance, Mahapatra said there is no alternative before the ruling Congress in the state but to seek a fresh mandate.
The latest results of the Lok Sabha polls in the state, according to him, is a verdict against the "misrule, corruption and all anti-people policies of the present government". He also suggested that wherever the mandate has gone against the parties in power, those governments should also quit to seek fresh elections. He was referring to positions in Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Mahapatra, one of the mainstaysof BJD, asserted that the poll results have proved beyond doubt that the regional party is the real inheritor of the Biju Patnaik legacy. The political affairs committee of the party will meet here shortly to chalk out a detailed strategy for formation of the government at New Delhi.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
