Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday attributed BJP’s poor showing in the Assembly elections in the five states to the Centre’s failure to protect the interests of farmers.

“All the states that had gone to the polls are predominantly agrarian states. The BJP government at the Centre has done very little for the farmers as regards to MSP (minimum support price) for paddy and implementation of the M.S. Swaminanthan Committee recommendations (on remunerative prices for agricultural produce),” Naveen said while congratulating the Congress, the TRS and MNF for their electoral victory.

“This shows the mood of the nation,” said Naveen, who will face Assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha polls early next year. He was obviously referring to the twin issues that Odisha had been raising with the Narendra Modi government.

The mood in the BJD, which maintains equi-distance from the BJP and the Congress, is quite upbeat particularly because of the BJP’s defeat in neighbouring Chhattisgarh with which the state is locked in a legal battle over sharing of Mahanadi water. The BJD had been accusing the Narendra Modi government of being partial towards Chhattisgarh.

The outgoing chief minister Raman Singh has been the star campaigner for the BJP in western Odisha, where the party has considerable influence. Singh had campaigned during the zila parishad elections in the region in which the BJP had emerged as number two, relegating the Congress to the third position.

Congress workers in Bhubaneswar celebrated the party’s victory in the crucial north Indian states and distributed sweets to people.

State Congress president Nirajan Patnaik said: “The people have thrown out the BJP from power in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This will definitely have an impact on the coming general elections and Odisha Assembly polls.”

Patnaik said: “There will be an anti-establishment factor in Odisha. It will have its impact in the coming general elections.”

BJD general-secretary Sanjay Das Burma said: “The people have rejected the communal forces. The result also clearly indicates support for the regional parties. The people will continue to support the BJD. The rising popularity of chief minister Naveen Patnaik will bring back the party to power once again.”

BJP state vice-president Pratap Sarangi said: “The result of the five states will have no impact in the coming general election.”

Vigilance raid

Vigilance officials on Tuesday raided property of Jharigaon LAMPS (Large Area Multi-purpose Cooperative Societies) supervisor of the Nabarangpur district on charges of acquisition and possession of property disproportionate to his known sources of income. Separate teams of the anti-corruption wing raided the supervisor Gayaram Mathia's gas agency at Chacha panchayat and petrol pump on Umerkote-Jharigaon road. The officials also searched his houses and property at various places in Kalahandi, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Nuapada districts.