By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Orissa Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare Sunday asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to prove majority in the assembly March 11 after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew support to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government.
Patnaik along with many of his ministers and party legislators met the governor at the Raj Bhavan Sunday and informed him that he had the support of more than 74 legislators – the majority mark in the 147-seat house.
The BJD has 61 members and says it has the support of at least 14 legislators.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Communist Party of India (CPI), which have one member each, have said they will support the Patnaik government.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which has four legislators, has also said it will support the BJD in case of a floor test, its legislature party leader Bimal Lochan Das said.
The BJD and BJP, allies for 11 years, parted ways after their talks for seat-sharing in Orissa for the Lok Sabha elections failed Saturday night. The state goes to polls in two phases – April 16 and 23.
The BJP, which has 32 members in the assembly, then withdrew support to the Patnaik government and demanded the imposition of the president’s rule in the state arguing that people had voted the coalition to power and not the BJD alone.