Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the convincing victory of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the parliamentary elections.
Patnaik spoke to Modi over telephone and congratulated the PM for the huge victory.
The Prime Minister also congratulated the Patnaik as his BJD raced past the majority mark leading in 110 of the 147 Assembly seats.
Earlier the PM also congratulated Patnaik on twitter. “Congratulations to Naveen Babu for yet another victory in Odisha. Wishing him the very best for the next term,” tweeted Modi.
With the elections asserting 68-year-old Modi as the most popular leader in decades in India, the partial vote count released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) showed that BJP was expected to surpass its 2014 performance. In 2014, the party had won 282 seats.
Patnaik is all set to come back to power for a record fifth term as his BJD is leading in 110 Assembly seats. The BJP seems set to be the main opposition party in the State Assembly with leads in 24 seats while Congress slumped to leads in 10.
As per trends on the Election Commission’s website, Patnaik was leading from both the Hinjili and Bijepur Assembly constituencies against his nearest BJP candidates by good margins.
Patnaik is on the path to joining the ranks of Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling and West Bengal’s Jyoti Basu as five-time CM of a State in the country.
