After a spectacular victory, Naveen Patnaik gears up for new innings

After a landslide victory in the state assembly polls, incumbent chief minister Naveen Patnaik looks all set to announce his new team on May 27, the tentative date of the swearing-in ceremony of the new council of ministers.

Sources privy to the development said, Patnaik in his fifth straight term is likely to go for a major overhaul in his ministry, with eminent thrust on inducting fresh faces and women legislators as ministers. The old guard, including some of the staunch loyalists, might have to give up on ministerial berths though they will be the key to steering BJD's organizational roadmap.

"I would like to express my deep gratitude to the people of our state who showered their blessings time and again on Biju Janata Dal (BJD). I want to thank particularly the women of Odisha who came out in large numbers to vote for us”, Patnaik said after people bestowed a massive mandate on the BJD. Patnaik is only the third chief minister in the country after Jyoti Basu and Sikkim's incumbent Pawan Kumar Chamling to retain power for the fifth successive term.

Patnaik, also the BJD supremo, first came to power in 2000 and was in an alliance with the BJP in the state for 9 years until ties were severed before 2009 elections after the eruption of communal riots in Kandhamal. Unperturbed by the break-up with BJP, Patnaik's BJD has only nosed ahead, gaining in strength in poll after poll. 

In 2019 polls too, the BJD chieftain led by example, toppling his rivals by ample margins in Bijepur (in west Odisha's Bargarh) and his pocket borough Hinjili in Ganjam district. Most of the BJD's candidates retained their constituencies with Patnaik's halo showing no signs of dimming. 

Overcoming the Narendra Modi tsunami that swept the nation, Patnaik's BJD romped home with a prodigious margin, winning in 112 of 146 assembly constituencies polled. The BJD's tally in the assembly is just five seats shy of 117, its best ever performance recorded in 2014 elections. Aside from the numbers, the regional party enhanced its vote share from 43.35 per cent in 2014 to 44.7 per cent in 2019. 

Polls were successfully conducted in all assembly constituencies barring Patkura.

Election to Patkura, a constituency in coastal Kendrapara, was first deferred to May 19 after BJD candidate Ved Prakash Agarwal's demise. Later, the dates had to be rescheduled as the Odisha government appealed to the Election Commission of India to postpone dates in view of the devastation wrought by ferocious summer storm Fani.

Riding on Modi wave, the BJP made some inroads into the BJD and Congress territory, triumphing in 23 assembly seats, improving upon its 2014's tally of 10. The BJP's voting percentage strikingly moved up to 32.5 per cent during the current polls, from 17.99 per cent in 2014. By contrast, Congress, the main Opposition in the state, faced its worst electoral debacle, managing to win only nine seats, down from its last tally of 16. 

Taking moral responsibility for the humiliating show in 2019 polls, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik has announced his resignation from the post. The Congress' Odisha president was humbled at both Ghasipura and Bhandaripokhari assembly segments by formidable opponents from the ruling BJD. Congress Campaign Committee Chairman Bhakta Charan Das, too, has resigned from his post over the party's embarrassing performance in the twin polls.