Peeved at his party’s poor show in the first-phase panchayat polls, BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday asked all party leaders to work hard so that the party gets more numbers of ZP seats in coming four phases of the elections.
Sources said Patnaik talked to BJD district presidents, MlAs and star campaigners in this regard. He too warned that he would take strong actions against the leaders who would be doing anything detrimental to the party.
According to reports, the BJD has won around 100 ZP seats out of the total 188 in the first phase. The number is around 50 less than the party had got in the first-phase polls in 2012. On the other hand, the BJP has won above 70 seats, a vastly-improved figure.