The
Biju Janata Dal is a regional party of the
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n state of
OrissaOrissa , is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of ancient republican nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC, that led to a turning point in the Emperor's life when deeply saddened by the bloodshed...
led by
Naveen PatnaikNaveen Patnaik is the current Chief Minister of Orissa, India and the chief of Biju Janata Dal, a regional political party in Orissa.-Personal life:...
, son of former state chief minister
Biju PatnaikBiju Patnaik was an Indian politician.Son of Lakshminarayan and Ashalata Patnaik, Bijayananda Patnaik was born in Cuttack, Orissa on March 5, 1916.- Early life and role in freedom movement :...
. It was founded in 1997.
Naveen took over his father's Lok Sabha seat in 1996 as a member of the
Janata DalJanata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of one of the major Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal and a group of Congressmen led by V.P. Singh.-Ascent to power:...
. In 1997, Naveen split from Janata Dal over its failure to ally with the BJP, and formed the BJD in December 1997. The BJD has participated in several ruling coalitions with the
Bharatiya Janata PartyThe Bharatiya Janata Party , translation: Indian People's Party) is a major political party in India, founded in 1980. The party is a strong force in Hindu nationalism and advocates conservative social policies, self-reliance, free market economics, foreign policy driven by a nationalist agenda,...
both at the Centre and in Orissa.
The
Biju Janata Dal is a regional party of the
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n state of
OrissaOrissa , is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of ancient republican nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC, that led to a turning point in the Emperor's life when deeply saddened by the bloodshed...
led by
Naveen PatnaikNaveen Patnaik is the current Chief Minister of Orissa, India and the chief of Biju Janata Dal, a regional political party in Orissa.-Personal life:...
, son of former state chief minister
Biju PatnaikBiju Patnaik was an Indian politician.Son of Lakshminarayan and Ashalata Patnaik, Bijayananda Patnaik was born in Cuttack, Orissa on March 5, 1916.- Early life and role in freedom movement :...
. It was founded in 1997.
History
Naveen took over his father's Lok Sabha seat in 1996 as a member of the
Janata DalJanata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of one of the major Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal and a group of Congressmen led by V.P. Singh.-Ascent to power:...
. In 1997, Naveen split from Janata Dal over its failure to ally with the BJP, and formed the BJD in December 1997. The BJD has participated in several ruling coalitions with the
Bharatiya Janata PartyThe Bharatiya Janata Party , translation: Indian People's Party) is a major political party in India, founded in 1980. The party is a strong force in Hindu nationalism and advocates conservative social policies, self-reliance, free market economics, foreign policy driven by a nationalist agenda,...
both at the Centre and in Orissa. The BJD, however, was one of the main professedly secular parties of the
National Democratic AllianceThe National Democratic Alliance is a name used by political parties of several countries:*National Democratic Alliance *National Democratic Alliance *National Democratic Alliance...
. Recently the party has completed 10 years successfully and all the success goes to the pocket of the party president Naveen Pattnaik for his clean personality.
Electoral Record
BJD won 9 seats in the 1998 general elections and Naveen was named the
Minister for MinesThe Ministry of Mines, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to mines in India...
. In the 1999 general elections, BJD won 10 seats. The party won a majority of seats in the state legislative assembly in the 2000 and 2004 elections in alliance with BJP. The party won 11 Lok Sabha seats in the 2004 elections.
However the BJD parted ways with the BJP for both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections 2009 citing differences in seat sharing.
Rule
Naveen Patnaik steepped down as Minister of Mines and left the Lok Sabha after the BJD-BJP victory in the Assembly elections in 2000 and became the Chief Minister of the state. Patnaik won a second term as Chief Minister in 2004 state elections.n
Alliance And Break Up
BJD had an alliance with BJP in Orissa and it also supported the
NDANDA is an abbreviation that may refer to:* National Dance Association, the oldest American organization for dance education* Non-disclosure agreement, a legal term* Next-Day Air, a specification for shipping...
in the centre since 1998 till 2009 when Mr Naveen Patnaik decided to break the alliance and go alone in the 2009 general elections.The decision was however referred by BJP as the betrayal of Naveen Patnaik.
Controversies
The main controversy surrounding the party is its leader and proxy leader. Though Naveen Patnaik is the leader of BJD still Mr Pyari Mohan Mohapatra is said to be the more powerful leader of the party and the main decision maker.It is believed,that all the decisions are taken by Mr Mahapatra.In fact, Mr Pyari Mohan Mahapatra played an important role in the party's departure from the NDA. It is believed in the Political Circle in Orissa that all the decisions are taken by Mr Mahapatra. Many politicians have been thrown out of the party for disagreeing with the leader of the party,the prominent being Ramakrushna Patnaik, Bijay Mahapatra, Nalini Mohanty,Shri Dilip Ray and Sarat Kar.
Many newspaper articles have been written protesting Mr Mahapatra's yielding of power without accountability as undemocratic.