Biju Janata Dal President Naveen Patnaik met Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal on Sunday to stake claim to form the next government in the state, ANI reported. The governor has extended an invitation to Patnaik to form the government, the news agency added.
Patnaik met Lal hours after he was elected the leader of the Biju Janata Dal legislature party at a meeting in Bhubaneswar, reported Odisha Sun Times. He is likely to take oath as the chief minister on Wednesday for the fifth straight term at the IDCO Exhibition Ground in the city, making him the state’s longest-serving chief minister.
The elections were a mixed bag for Patnaik as he managed to return to power in the state but saw the Bharatiya Janata Party make inroads in the the state. The Biju Janata Dal won 112 of 146 Assembly seats while bagging only 12 Lok Sabha constituencies, down from 20 in the 2014 General Elections. The saffron party won 12 seats, up from one in 2014, and saw its tally in the Assembly rise to 23, an increase of 13 constituencies.
The BJP won 32.5% of the votes, up from 18% in 2014 while the Biju Janata Dal saw a marginal increase in its vote share.
On Friday, Patnaik said he was open to “constructive cooperation” with the Centre for the state’s development, but added that he would like to maintain distance from the BJP as well as the Congress. “I believe in constructive cooperation from the central government for any development and welfare schemes for Odisha,” the chief minister had told NDTV. “I want to work in cooperation with them for the development of the state. We always need the support of the Centre.”
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