Patnaik elected BJD legislature party leader

The newly elected legislators of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Sunday unanimously elected Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as their leader.

Patnaik, who led the party to victory for the fourth straight term in the state, was elected by them at a meeting held at the BJD party office here.

"We will work together with renewed effort for the development and welfare of the people of our state," Patnaik told the legislators after being elected.

The BJD achieved a stunning victory in both the assembly and Lok Sabha elections held last month, winning 117 and 20 seats respectively.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured only one of the state's 21 Lok Sabha seats. In the state assembly polls, the BJP won 10 while the Congress emerged as the main opposition, securing 16 of the total 147 seats.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Samata Kranti Dal, a regional party, won a seat each, while Independents captured two seats.

In the 2009 polls, the BJD won 103 seats while the Congress and the BJP could get 27 and six seats respectively.