Decision on Patnaik's swearing-in today

MANDATE 2004

Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is all set to be re-elected as the leader of joint legislature party of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is scheduled to meet here tomorrow.

The meeting will also decide the date of swearing in of the new ministry in the state under the leadership Patnaik. BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan will attend the joint legislature party meeting as central observer.

The is also likely to review the performance of the both the parties in the just concluded Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. This apart, the newly elected legislators of both the BJD and the BJP will sit separately to review the performances of their respective parties in the elections.

According to the final tally, the BJD-BJP combine won 93 seats ( BJD-61 and BJP-32) out of total 147 Assembly seats. The Congress-led coalition bagged 44 seats (Congress ""38 , Jharkhand Mukti Morcha ""4 and Orissa Gana Parishad- 2) . The CPI and the CPI(M) secured one seat each and 8 seats went to independents.

In the last Assembly polls, the BJD and the BJP had won 68 and 38 seats, respectively, while the main opposition Congress had bagged 25 seats. The results showed that the BJD had managed to retain 50 of its seats while losing 18 seats.

It also gained 11 seats. Similarly the BJP retained 20 of its seats while losing 18 seats and gaining 12 seats. On the other hand, the Congress retained 10 of its 25 seats. It lost 15 seats and gained 28 seats.