The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) (Oriya: ବିଜୁ ଜନତା ଦଳ)is a state political party of the Indian state of Orissa led by Naveen Patnaik, son of former state chief minister Biju Patnaik. It was founded on 27 December 1997.

Naveen Patnaik took over his father's Lok Sabha seat in 1996 as a member of the Janata Dal. In 1997, Patnaik 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 Party (BJP) both at the Centre and in Orissa. The BJD, however, was one of the main professedly secular parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Much of the popularity and electoral success of the party is credited to Patnaik's image as an incorruptible and 'clean' candidate.

BJD won nine seats in the 1998 general elections and Naveen was named the Minister for Mines. 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. As for now, it is a part of the Third Front. In 2009 loksabha election, BJD won 14 seats and secured strong 103 legislative seats out of 147 seats in assembly election of 2009.

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.

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.

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

Patnaik was born in Cuttack, Orissa to Biju Patnaik, former Chief Minister of Orissa, and Gyan Patnaik. 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,Delhi University, and he qualified for Bachelor of Arts degree.

He is a life-long bachelor. 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.

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.