BHUBANESWAR: The mood of the three major political parties on Thursday could be gauged by their respective offices. While the offices of BJD and BJD were abuzz with activities throughout the day, Congress Bhawan, located in the heart of the City wore a deserted look.
Hundreds of BJD workers visited Naveen Niwas in the evening with cakes and flowers to wish their supremo Naveen Patnaik after the initial counting suggested a comfortable win for the party. A giant LCD screen was put up at the party’s office here where the results were displayed live.
BJD’s Bhubaneswar Central and Ekamra candidates, Ananta Narayan Jena and Ashok Panda’s visit to the party office after the initial rounds of counting indicated that they were ahead of their rivals. The party’s supporters also took out a victory procession in support of the candidates. “Celebrations will reach crescendo once the final results are announced,” a BJD worker said.
Earlier in the day, workers of the all political parties hopeful of making significant gains in the General Elections looked ardent even before the counting of votes commenced at BJB College here. A large screen was put up at the BJP office here.
People from across the city visited the BJP leaders, who were ahead during counting of votes. Three elderly men came in an auto-rickshaw from Balipatna to meet Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha candidate Aparajita Sarangi, who was comfortably ahead of her rival, Arup Patnaik of BJD. “We had attended Aparajita Sarangi’s public meetings prior to the polls. We decided to support her as we want overall development of the State,” 81-year-old Tiari Behera said.