Notwithstanding the drubbing in the just-held panchayat elections, Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik on Monday put up a brave front asserting that his party would again return to power in the 2019 Assembly elections with a “thumping majority”.
“I am confident that the BJD will again return to office in 2019 with a thumping majority with the blessings of the people by virtue of our good work,” he said here.
He said he is “grateful to the people for reposing their faith in the BJD and retaining it as the largest party with absolute majority with 56 per cent of the Zilla Parishad seats” in the panchayat polls.
At the same time, accepting that the party has underperformed in the panchayat polls in some districts, Patnaik said the party would review the performance very seriously and apply suitable correctives both in terms of the Government and organisational issues.
“We shall work harder, get more reconnected to the people to fulfil their expectations,” he said.
In fact, the BJD has lost 178 ZP seats in the elections compared with the 2012 polls when the party had won 651 of the 853 seats. On the other hand, the BJP has won 297 seats mostly at the BJD’s expenses compared with a mere 36 in 2012. The Congress, which had won 128 seats last time, has been relegated to the third spot with only 60 seats.
