By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: “Odia people are exploited in our State. Perhaps Odisha is the only State where conspiracy was made to neglect its own people. Odia Contractors are not getting work here,” former Odisha Chief Secretary Bijay Patnaik, who recently joined the Congress, had alleged. Patnaik’s indication was loud and clear and was intended for some non-Odia IAS, IPS officers and few non Odia contractors.
If this was the real situation in Odisha , then why BJP, the main opposition in the State, only keeping itself within rally and demonstration, not making forward attack on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
BJP now has 23 MLAs and the Saffron Party has 8 MPs in Lok Sabha , and also 3 Union Ministers representing in Prime Minister Narendra Modi cabinet, but when it comes to confront Naveen Patnaik, none found in the picture. The BJP already had at least 40% vote share in the state and it was the responsibility of the state and the central leadership to raise the share.
When BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda named Sunil Bansal as the central party’s representative and Odisha in-charge in August 2022, there was lot of enthusiasm among the saffron rank and file. Everybody in the Odisha BJP and also in the saffron outfit was upbeat as Shri Bansal was instrumental behind ushering in BJP for the second time in Uttar Pradesh. He was projected as a saviour of BJP in Odisha.
It was also said that both Sunil Bansal and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had put in their best efforts in Uttar Pradesh ensuring the success of Yogi Adityananth despite the strong farmers’ agitation in the northern state. The same Bansal-Pradhan pair is also involved in Odisha and both are striving for the upliftment of BJP in the state. However, there is no perceptible change in the party position.
Infighting was the main reason behind BJP’s fall in Odisha. Political analysis believes, if Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan along with MP Aparajita Sarangi and National VP Baijayant Jay Panda took a single stand on Naveen Patnaik, ground results may have something different in 2024. Baijayant Panda not only a 4th times MP , he commands good popularity in coastal Odisha including Kendrapara and Cuttack and also has strong media influence through his family run OTV while Aparajita Sarangi, has enough strength to bring trouble for Naveen Patnaik for her informative and research based allegations. Now, turn for Dharmendra Pradhan to take the lead, added sources close to BJP.
Naveen Patnaik and his BJD, on the other hand, are growing stronger day by day. The BJD Supremo connects with people in a big way, which is missing with BJP and Congress. This is proper time for Dharmendra-Baijayant and Aparajita to form a special strategy to counter Naveen Patnaik in Odisha.
In BJP, everybody also wants to be a leader as the central party has not yet named or projected any one as its head in the state. BJP’s 8 MPs do not sit together and so also the MLAs. There seems to be a lack of coordination among the elected people’s representatives. While Samir Mohanty and his spokespersons address press meets in the party’s state headquarters, MP Aparajita Sarangi and Leader of Opposition Jaynarayan Mishra prefer to have their own set of journalists and meet them at their respective residences. Suresh Pujari, Pratap Sarangi, Bishweswar Tudu, Jual Oram and other senior leaders prefer to work in their own style instead of having any common goal.
