Bhubaneswar, Sept. 22: The BJD is gearing up to capture at least 50 urban local bodies of the 66 that went to the polls last week.

Hectic parleys have already begun and efforts are being made to reach out to various Independent candidates who are going to play a crucial role in 15 civic bodies where no party has emerged a clear winner.

While the BJD is making all out efforts, the Congress, which faced a humiliating a debacle in the polls, today constituted a committee under the chairmanship of former chief minister Hemananda Biswal to identify the reasons for the party's disastrous showing. Party MLA Prasad Harichandan will be the convener of the committee.

BJD vice-president and minister Kalpataru Das said: “Most of the Independent candidates have pledged their support to the party. In Joda and Koraput, we have almost managed to have tie-ups with others to form the councils.”

Das claimed that the BJD would capture power with the help of Independents in Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee chief Jaydev Jena’s home turf Anandapur Notified Area Council in Keonjhar district.

All the Independent candidates who won the urban polls are known to be the supporters of minister Badri Narayan Patra. Incidentally, the political grapevine is that most of the Independent winners are from the Congress and had left the party to teach the OPCC chief a lesson.

The civic bodies where no parties have got a clear majority are those of Ganjam, Kodala, Koraput, Kotpad, Dhenkanal, Bhuban, Talcher, Soro, Jatni, Karanjia, Rairangpur, Udala, Anandpur, Joda and Barbil.

While it is almost certain that the BJP would form the only council in the state by capturing the Rairangpur civic body in Mayurbhanj district, uncertainty looms large over the fate of 14 other councils. In a related development, former MLA of Jatani Suresh Routaray gathered together all the Independent members elected to the Jatnti Notified Area Council along with four Congress members and announced that a Congress-backed council would be formed.

However, the BJD leaders said all should wait till September 30 when the chairpersons should be elected to the civic bodies. “No one should be in a hurry and jump to conclusions. You have to wait till September 30,” said Das.

Interestingly, the Anandapur town congress has alleged that former OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik played a crucial role in the defeat of the party candidates there.

Niranjan, however, said: “I was never consulted during the elections. I have not even visited the Kenojhar district. The committee should look into the issue of the Congress debacle in the entire state rather than confining itself to Anandpur.”