Odisha: BJD Needs ‘Quick Balancing’ Within Party to Prevent Steady Collapse

Much before the 2024 poll debacle after 24 years in power in Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had already started showing signs of an untimely yet steady decline in the political sphere.

It may sound surprising that after over two decades of invincibility in Odisha politics under a popular leader like Naveen Patnaik, sudden apprehensions by political analysts that the party is dithering due to various factors, either tenable or untenable, cannot be dismissed with a shrug.  

This may sound uncharitable but there is a state of catatonic stupor in the party leadership and, more so, for the BJD supremo, who has been gradually reduced to a symbolic ageing persona with no one else to lead the party once he relinquishes the position.

“What has been evidenced is that his politically compulsive truck with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre has brought him to a state from where he can now hardly recapture the lost momentum in Odisha politics”, observed Rabi Das, a senior political analyst.

On BJP’s allies declining political fortunes across states, another political analyst Ritik Paramanik said: “It has grown to be an accepted notion that the BJP finishes any regional partner after extracting political benefit from such outfits slowly. The 20 Lok Sabha seats won in the 2024 polls by BJP in Odisha, without which the National Democratic Alliance or NDA would not have formed the government at the Centre, was unthinkable without the political assent of BJD itself.

“It is for all to see in Bihar or Maharashtra how BJP emasculated its political allies slowly”, he added.      

Giving a glimpse into the party’s decline, an aggrieved BJD leader, on the condition of anonymity, told this writer that fielding of weak candidates in almost all the Lok Sabha seats smacked of a “deliberate design by the war-room adviser of Patnaik”, adding that “not to be economical with truth, Patnaik is still buttonholed by V K Pandian, the bureaucrat-turned BJD leader in 2023, who continues to take all major decisions.”

There is a palpable air of angst among many in the party. The chatter in the party grapevine would have us believe that some senior BJD leaders are also contemplating a switch-over to either BJP or Congress.

As rumoured, the BJD leadership is also pondering over preparing young faces while doing away with old ones. This has created further apprehensions that some founding members have already been sidelined, some have switched over to BJP notwithstanding their success in BJD as leaders of worth.  

In fact, for Patnaik, the defeat in the recently held Nuapada Assembly bypoll was a severe jolt, but what shook him more was that BJD was pushed to the third position, which has obviously created disappointment among party cadres at the grassroot level.

The irony is that Patnaik, regardless of his popularity, is still not exercising his own political aptitude as he used to in the earlier phases of his tenure in Odisha politics, in consultation with leaders who have contributed immensely to strengthen the BJD.

“It would be a wise counsel for Naveen Patnaik to summon the acquiescence and fresh inputs from senior and young BJD leaders as to what should the next course of action be to bring back harmony within the party, which is allegedly in total disarray after the 2024 polls”, said Kameswar Rao, a senior journalist.

“Patnaik needs to deal with disgruntled BJD leaders pragmatically and find a common ground to sustain the 24 years of legacy, instead of remaining in complacency of yesteryear,” he added.

The big question is: Who after Naveen Patnaik? The answer requires urgent contemplation by BJD and its ageing supremo and former Chief Minister.  

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Odisha, with over 40 years’ experience in the profession. The views are personal.