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March 21, 1998

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ELECTIONS '96

14 Orissa ministers quit

Fourteen of the 28 ministers in the J B Patnaik government have resigned owning moral responsibility for the Congress debacle in the general election in Orissa, according to Deputy Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal.

Biswal said the consensus demand in the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Thursday night, attended by several MLAs and ministers, was that all ministers should resign to give the chief minister a free hand to reshuffle his cabinet. The decision was arrived at after five hours of debate.

Sixtyeight of the 80 Congress legislators were present at the meeting, presided over by Chief Minister J B Patnaik. Seven of the 28 ministers were absent.

The deputy chief minister said the decision to resign was first mooted at the CLP meeting on March 15. It took final shape at Thursday's meeting.

CLP secretary Ganeswar Behera said some ministers had submitted their resignation at the CLP meeting itself.

He said the CLP would meet again to discuss the state's grave financial situation.

Although the MLAs blamed the ministers for the party's electoral debacle, Patnaik attributed it to the Bharatiya Janata Party-Bharatiya Janata Dal alliance in the state.

Most MLAs complained the party could not properly counter corruption charges against the state government.

UNI

Elections '98

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