Naveen to seek vote of confidence

Orissa Governor MC Bhandare has asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to seek a vote of confidence in a special Assembly session on March 11.

“There will be a vote of confidence in the state Assembly on March 11 during a special session,” Patnaik told reporters.

The coalition government of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in power since 2000, was reduced to a minority after the BJP withdrew its support and demanded imposition of President’s Rule in the state.

This was after the failure of seat-sharing talks between the two parties for the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state, which will be held in two phases on April 16 and 23. The BJD had announced to go on its own in the elections.

After BJP’s exit, Left parties, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have extended their support to the BJD. The move is expected to help Patnaik prove a majority on the floor of the Assembly.

Earlier today, Naveen led a group of 75 MLAs, comprising 59 BJD, 4 JMM, 2 NCP, one CPI, one CPM, 7 Independent and one rebel BJP MLA, to the governor’s house to convince him that the party had more than the requisite number in the Assembly. He also produced letters of two BJD MLAs who could not accompany him but are pledging support to his government.

In the 147-member Assembly, the BJD needs support of at least 74 MLAs to save his government.

“We have the support of more than 74 MLAs,” Patnaik asserted, after coming out from Raj Bhavan.

Asked whether the split with BJP will have any bearing on the performance of his party in the coming elections, he said: “We will field candidates on the basis of winnability. Hence, this is unlikely to have any impact.”