The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) (Oriya: ବିଜୁ ଜନତା ଦଳ) is a state political party of the Indian state of Odisha led by Naveen Patnaik, son of former state chief minister Biju Patnaik. It was founded on 26 December 1997. Naveen Patnaik took over his father Biju Pattnaik'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 Odisha. 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.[3] However the BJD parted ways with the BJP for both the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections 2009 citing differences in seat sharing. Currently, it is a part of the Third Front. In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, BJD won 14 seats and secured strong 108 legislative seats out of 147 seats in assembly election of 2009. Naveen Patnaik stepped down as Minister of Mines and left the Lok Sabha after the BJD-BJP victory in the Assembly elections in 2000 and became the Chief Minister of the state. Patnaik won second and third terms as Chief Minister of Odisha in 2004 and 2009 state elections respectively.
