BHUBANESWAR: As the BJP suffered setback in the Hindi heartland for the first time after coming to power at the Centre in 2014, and the Congress won majority of seats, Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik, who reiterated the regional outfit’s stand of maintaining equidistance from the two parties, said the election results in five states reflected the mood of the nation.
Attributing the anti-farmer policies of the Centre as the reason for the defeat of BJP in these states, the Chief Minister said all the states which had gone to polls are predominantly agrarian.
“The Central Government has done very little for the farmers as regards Minimum Support Price (MSP) and implementation of MS Swaminathan Committee recommendations,” he said.
Congratulating the Congress, TRS and MNF for their electoral victory, Naveen said though the BJD has extended issue-based support to both the parties, the regional outfit remains equidistant from Congress and BJP. To a question over the ongoing Mahanadi river water dispute with Chhattisgarh after the defeat of BJP government in the State, Naveen hoped that the issue will be resolved now.
To a question on whether the BJD will be part of a new political front, following a meeting between Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party in New Delhi on Monday, Naveen said there is no plan for a new front at the moment. “Let’s see what happens in future,” he said.
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Talking about the Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s support to BJD’s proposal to place the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Parliament, Naveen said, “BJD has pioneered the Women’s Reservation Bill and it is a good thing that the parties will support this important bill.
However, the election results have started a churning in the BJD which will go to polls seeking a mandate for a fifth consecutive term in office in 2019. Though BJD leaders maintain that the election results will not have much of an impact in Odisha where BJP and Congress are not strong enough, talks have already started in political circles here about the possibility of an anti-incumbency factor which may go against the regional outfit.
The government chief whip and senior BJD leader Amar Prasad Satpathy said the election results will definitely put a break on the BJP’s growth in the State. “BJP, which was trying to emerge as a force to challenge the BJD in the next elections, will be in reverse gear now,” Satpathy said and added that the infighting in Congress will help the BJD.