Pappu shows he can dance alone

BHUBANESWAR: The unexpected outcome in the 2009 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Orissa has propped up Biju Janata Dal (BJD) as a genuine regional party from the state. BJD chief Naveen Patnaik seems to have had the last laugh with his party candidates winning with huge margins.

Getting over 100 seats out of 130 seats it contested so far out of 147 assembly seats, BJD has made a record of sorts and proved all poll predictions wrong. Psephologists also failed to gauge the mood of the people and could not sense a strong undercurrent of pro-Naveen wave. BJD has so far won 14 Lok Sabha seats.

The 2009 Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assembly elections witnessed a triangular contest among BJD, BJP and Congress. But both the BJP and Congress have failed miserably at the hustings by bagging six and 25, respectively, much less than what they had got in the last poll.

Interestingly, the majority of regional political parties have performed badly except BJD, Trinamool Congress and JD (U). Laloo Prasad Yadav-led RJD, Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP and N Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP have performed badly.

The Naveen wave witnessed a large number of stalwarts losing. Among the major losers were Nalini Mohanty and Lalatendu Vidyadhar Mahapatra from Congress, former ministers Niranjan Patnaik and Ramakrushna Patnaik, former MP Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and former PCC chief Jaydev Jena.

The BJP heavyweights who bit the dust at the hustings were party president Suresh Pujari, former revenue and industry minister Biswabhushan Harichandan, former higher education minister Samir Dey and former revenue minister Manmohan Samal. Bijaya Mohapatra and former MP Dharmendra Pradhan. The newly-formed Samarudha Orissa president Dr Jatish Chandra Mohanty also lost assembly election.

Meanwhile, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik has made it clear that his party would neither support UPA nor NDA. He attributed the party���s overwhelming success to his government���s sustained efforts to realise the dream of his father Biju���s dream of a prosperous Orissa.

���My government would give priority to agriculture, irrigation and industrialisation in the state. We will ensure that huge employment is generated for the youths through industrialisation process,��� he remarked while talking to media persons.