Janata Dal is an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Congress(S), and the Jan Morcha led by V. P. Singh on 11 October 1988 on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan.

Ascent to power[link]

It first came to power in 1989, after allegations of corruption, known as the Bofors scandal, caused Rajiv Gandhi's Congress (I) to lose the elections. The National Front coalition that was formed consisted of the Janata Dal and a few smaller parties in the government, and had outside support from the Left Front and the Bharatiya Janata Party. V. P. Singh was the Prime Minister. In November 1990, this coalition collapsed, and a new government headed by Chandra Shekhar under Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) which had the support of the Congress came to power for a short while.

Its second spell of power began in 1996, when the Janata Dal-led United Front coalition came to power, with outside support from the Congress under Sitaram Kesri, choosing H. D. Deve Gowda as their Prime Minister. The Congress withdrew their support in less than a year, hoping to gain power with the support of various United Front constituent groups, and I. K. Gujral became the next Prime Minister. His government too fell in a few months, and in February 1998, the Janata Dal-led coalition lost power to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Factions[link]

This party has had several splits. Amongst the larger splinter groups include the Rashtriya Janata Dal (which ruled the state of Bihar), Samajwadi Party (a major force in Uttar Pradesh), Biju Janata Dal (governing Orissa), Janata Dal (Secular) (which ruled the state of Karnataka) and the Janata Dal (United), (currently ruling Bihar and whose leader George Fernandes was the Defense Minister of India) and Samajwadi Janta Party (R) headed by Chandra Shekhar is the only faction having some national image. Several smaller splinter groups also exist, including Lok Janshakti Party and Janata Party.

Janata Parivar parties[link]

• Janata Dal (Secular) of V. P. Singh and I. K. Gujral led by H. D. Deve Gowda
• Socialist Janata (Democratic) Party led by M. P. Veerendrakumar
• Janata Dal (United) led by Sharad Yadav
• Samata Party of George Fernandes now led by Brahmanand Mandal and Jaya Jaitley
• Janata Party led by Subramanian Swamy
• Samajwadi Party led by Mulayam Singh Yadav
• Rashtriya Janata Dal led by Laloo Prasad Yadav
• Biju Janata Dal of Biju Patnaik
• Rashtriya Lok Dal led by Ajit Singh
• Indian National Lok Dal led by Om Prakash Chautala
• Lok Janshakti Party led by Ram Vilas Paswan
• Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) of Chandra Shekhar led by Kamal Morarka

Sharad Yadav, a politician from the Janata Dal (United) party, is currently^[when?] a member of the Parliament of India representing the Madhepura constituency of Bihar in the Lok Sabha. He had also represented Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.

He is also the current^[when?] convener of the NDA^[1]

He was also a member of the Indian Parliament from the Jabalpur constituency in Madhya Pradesh in 1977.

Controversies[link]

Sharad Yadav, along with others, were named in infamous multi-crore Hawala scandal for receiving 300,000 rupees towards a party fund. He was acquitted by Delhi High Court citing many reasons including that he did not confess and there was a lack of evidence of his guilt.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile on Rajya Sabha website

Naveen Patnaik
Naveen Patnaik inaugurating Alma Fiesta, 2010 of Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar.
Chief Minister of Orissa
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 March 2000
Governor	Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare
Preceded by	Hemananda Biswal
Constituency	Hinjli
Personal details
Born	(1946-10-16) 16 October 1946 (age 65) Cuttack, Orissa, India
Political party	Biju Janata Dal
Residence	Naveen Nivas, aerodram road Bhubaneswar, Orissa
Alma mater	Delhi University
Profession	Writer Politician
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Official site Chief Minister of Orissa

Naveen Patnaik (Oriya: ନବୀନ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ) (born October 16, 1946) is an Indian politician and Chief Minister of Orissa, India,^[1][2] and the chief of Biju Janata Dal, a regional political party in Orissa. He is also a writer and has published three books.

Biography[link]

Patnaik was born in Cuttack, Orissa to Biju Patnaik, former Chief Minister of Orissa, and Gyan Patnaik.^[3] At the age of 7, he was sent to Welham Boys' School, Dehradun, but later on shifted to the Doon School, where he received his Senior Cambridge Certificate at the age of 17. After that he attended Kirori Mal College,^[2] Delhi University, and he qualified for Bachelor of Arts degree.^[2]

He is a life-long bachelor.^[2] His elder brother Prem Patnaik is a Delhi-based businessman, while his sister Gita Mehta is an author and is the wife of Sonny Mehta, Editor-in-Chief of Alfred A. Knopf, New York. He is an ardent devotee of Maa Tara Tarini and often visits the abode of the mother goddesses, the breast shrine of Adi Shakti near Berhampur, Ganjam district.

Political career[link]

Naveen Patnaik inaugurating Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar.

Patnaik is a writer and had for most part of his youth been away from both politics and Orissa, but after his father Biju Patnaik's demise, he entered politics in 1997 and a year later founded the Biju Janata Dal named after Biju patnaik which won the state election with the BJP as its alliance and formed the government in which Patnaik became Chief Minister. His mild mannerism, stand against corruption and "pro-poor policies" have resulted in the development of a huge support base in Orissa, which has voted him to power in the last three consecutive terms. Like his father he had managed to control the greedy bureaucracy and have transformed it to a machine for the development of the state.^[4]

After the death of his father Biju Patnaik, leader of the Janata Dal,^[2] he was elected as a member to the 11th Lok Sabha in the by-election from Aska Parliamentary Constituency in Orissa, India.^[2] He was a member of the Consultative Committee of Ministry of Steel & Mines, Member of Standing Committee on Commerce, and Member Library Committee of Parliament. A year later the Janta Dal split and Patnaik founded the Biju Janta Dal which in alliance with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) performed well and Patnaik was selected the Union Minister for Mines in the cabinet of A.B.Vajpayee. However, as the BJD won the majority of seats in alliance with the BJP in the Orissa Assembly elections, Patnaik resigned from the Union cabinet and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Orissa in 2000. Patnaik is widely projected as pro-poor as well as a "clean" and an "honest" person who did not hesitate to sack many political heavyweights on charges of corruption.

Elections 2004[link]

All this led to the rise in the popularity of A. B. Bajpayee and the BJP, the NDA was again victorious in 2004 and Patnaik continued as the Chief Minister, but the friction between the ruling partners was getting more and more apparent, especially after the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati^[5] in the Kandhamal district of Orissa in 2007–2008, he was allegedly killed by christian sympathizers in maoist cadre. The subsequent riot between ethnic groups in Kandhamal brought a bad name to the state. It is alleged that Bajrang Dal has taken active role siding with the tribal Hindus.

Elections 2009[link]

In the run-up to the polls for the Lok Sabha and Orissa Vidhan Sabha elections in 2009, BJD walked out of the NDA after severing ties with the BJP and joined the nascent Third Front constituted mainly by the Left Front and few regional parties.^[6] He did it after severe criticism of BJP's involvement in Kondhamal anti Christian riot during 2007. The BJD won a resounding victory in both the Vidhan Sabha (State Assembly) as well as the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, bagging 14 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 103 of the 147 assembly seats and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Orissa on May 21, 2009 for the third consecutive term.^[7]

Patnaik is also a founder member of the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH).^[2]

Bibliography[link]

• A Second Paradise: Indian Country Life 1590–1947- published in India, England and U.S..
• A Desert Kingdom: The People of Bikaner- published in India, England and U.S..-
• The Garden of Life: An Introduction to the Healing Plants of India- published in India, England and U.S..-

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official site
• Notable personalities of Orissa, including Naveen Patnaik, in Orissadiary website
• Notable personalities of Odisha as per the Govt. of Odisha official web site
• Orissa's accidental politician, BBC

v t e Current Chief Ministers of Indian states (list)     Andhra Pradesh: Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy Arunachal Pradesh: Nabam Tuki Assam: Tarun Gogoi Bihar: Nitish Kumar Chhattisgarh: Raman Singh Goa: Manohar Parrikar Gujarat: Narendra Modi Haryana: Bhupinder Singh Hooda Himachal Pradesh: Prem Kumar Dhumal Jammu and Kashmir: Omar Abdullah Jharkhand: Arjun Munda Karnataka: D. V. Sadananda Gowda Kerala: Oommen Chandy Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chauhan Maharashtra: Prithviraj Chavan Manipur: Okram Ibobi Singh Meghalaya: Mukul Sangma Mizoram: Pu Lalthanhawla Nagaland: Neiphiu Rio Orissa: Naveen Patnaik Punjab: Parkash Singh Badal Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot Sikkim: Pawan Kumar Chamling Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa Tripura: Manik Sarkar Uttar Pradesh: Akhilesh Yadav Uttarakhand: Vijay Bahuguna West Bengal: Mamata Banerjee Delhi: Sheila Dikshit Pondicherry: N. Rangaswamy