Polls to herald winds of change in Orissa

BHUBANESWAR, JANUARY 9: The Assembly elections in Orissa, scheduled to be held in two phases on February 17 and 22, could witness a major change in the state’s political scenario.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) combine, which emerged as a formidable force from the two successive Lok Sabha polls in 1998 and 1999, will for the first time run for Assembly.During the last elections, the ruling Janata Dal which had a strength of 122 members in the 147-member House, had suffered a major setback as the Congress came to power with 81 seats, leaving the Janata Dal with just 46. Later in 1997, the JD split, and the BJD was formed by Naveen Patnaik.The ruling Congress this time might go for some sort of seat-sharing adjustments with small political parties and if possible with the left parties while the BJP-BJD combine also hope to rope in some other political parties. However, a clear picture in this regard would be known towards January-end.Key figures in the 2000 Assembly elections are formerchief ministers J B Patnaik, Nandini Satpathy and current Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal (all from the Congress). Former chief minister Giridhar Gamang, who recently quit the post in the wake of a revolt against him, however, had made it clear that he would not contest the Assembly elections.

A multi-cornered contest is in the offing this time, with several political parties including the Bahujan Samaj Party, deciding to field their candidates for all the 147 seats.