A day after the much-hyped one-to-one between Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the IOCl tax standoff was a success, with both flashing smiles while reacting to mediapersons, back in Odisha, their parties were on a race for bulging their image.
While BJP State leaders said that the IOCl tax dispute was resolved thanks to Pradhan which would accrue about Rs 3,000 crore to the Odisha Government instantly, apart from an annual revenue of Rs 1,500 crore, the BJD successfully bypassed the issue by highlighting the rating of Outlook magazine of Patnaik where he was declared the
No.1 CM in the country and the magazine felicitated Patnaik at a special function in New Delhi.
The BJD staged a road show at the Biju Patnaik International Airport at Bhubaneswar to welcome Patnaik and has been organising felicitation ceremonies for Patnaik as BJD’s ‘Hero’.
Now in the hero worship of their respective leader between the BJP and the BJD, ahead of the 2019 polls, the Congress appears to be down and virtually out of the race. The Congressmen in Odisha are through the worst phase of their political career with no all-acceptable leader to head the State unit, let alone hero worship.
While there is Patnaik at the helm of affairs in the BJD and Pradhan leads the Odisha BJP from the front, one gets baffled to know who is there in the Congress to don the mantle. There are many, but none enjoys a consensus.
leader of Opposition in Assembly Narasingha Mishra is an eye sore for PCC president Prasad Harichandan. MP Chiranjib Biswal says Harichandan may be the PCC chief, but he is not his leader.
There are some who support veteran Niranjan Patnaik for the PCC president post, some others back present incumbent Harichandan and there is yet another group which throws its weight behind former Railway Minister Bhakta Das.
Former Union Minister Srikant Jena in an oblique reference to Patnaik opposes the idea of any mining mafia leading the State unit of the party and demands a faster probe into the mining scam by the CBI and action against those who have amassed huge wealth from mining irregularities.
The rift between the Jenas and Patnaiks in Congress is very old and even if the Congress high command in Delhi agrees to a change of the PCC chief like changing a dress, one cannot be sure that these two rival groups would bury their hatchets. The panel of Central leaders who had been to the State recently on the PCC leadership issue must have been confused over the conflicting groups and the inherent contradictions in the State unit, apart from the unsteadiness of the leaders.
Another peril for the Congress prospect is the hopping of its leaders and workers. Though the trend is there in normal time, during the election period it gains momentum.
Many leaders of the grand old party have sprung surprises by their sudden desertion of the Congress.
To add to the woes of the party is the frequent deaths of the leaders.
lulu Mohapatra was a beacon light and his radicalism was yielding success to the party vis-a-vis the BJD and the BJP, but before long, he passed away prematurely. The latest addition is MlA Subal Sahu. He too died of cancer in his early sixties.