Outgoing Odisha CM holds discussion with party leaders post poll defeat

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], June 6 (ANI): Biju Janta Dal (BJD) Chief and outgoing Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held "discussions" with party leaders on Thursday, days after the party lost power to the BJP in the recently concluded State Assembly Polls.
Party leaders who attended the meeting told ANI that Naveen Patnaik advised them to keep in touch with the people of their constituencies.
BJD leader Mahesh Sahu told ANI, "He advised to keep in relation with the constituency people, keep talking about the people, and what development work has been formulated and what has been implemented. Organise yourself in the constituency and if required, go ahead with the agitation."
Swarup Das, another BJD leader, told ANI, "I am thankful to our Chief Minister (outgoing) because he will remain our CM forever. And he instructed us to work for the people. The people of Odisha have immense faith in us, party cadres. 41 percent of the vote share has gone to the BJD despite the poll debacle."
Rohit Pujari, another BJD leader, told ANI that Naveen Patnaik gave us some guidelines about how to work in the future.
"Today, we had a discussion with party president Naveen Patnaik ji. He has given us some guidelines. How we should work in the future. And he has told us how to continue to be with the people the way we have been in the past. And we have to serve the people of our constituency and Odisha."
The BJP has won 78 Legislative Assembly seats out of 147 in the state.
After a massive defeat in the State Assembly and Parliamentary elections, the 24-year-old tenure of Naveen Patnaik concluded as he submitted his resignation to Odisha Governor Raghubar Das at the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
The BJD, which has ruled Odisha since 1997, lost to the BJP, breaking the 24-year-old reign of Naveen Patnaik as the Chief Minister.
The Bharatiya Janata Party secured 78 seats in the 147-seat assembly. The BJD secured 51 seats way behind the majority mark of 74 and the Indian National Congress secured 14 seats. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls also BJP performed well by securing 20 out of the 21 parliamentary seats of the state, the remaining one seat was won by the Congress. (ANI)