While moving in a car in Sambalpur on February 18 this year, AICC second-in-command Rahul Gandhi had mumbled, “Jena will be the right choice”, which the driver overheard.
When the driver disclosed it to his boss, the Congress stalwart was confused as to which Jena, Srikant or Jayadev, is the choice of Gandhi to head the State Congress. Many thought it to be Union Minister Srikant Jena.
After three long months, the AICC announced Jayadev Jena’s name to replace Niranjan Patnaik as the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president. Rahul Gandhi seemed convinced that unless he demolished the Patnaik family legacy, the party had no future in the State.
Secondly, with the Justice MB Shah Commission’s report on the mining scam to be submitted soon, Gandhi never wanted to take chances. The Shah Commission is all set to come heavily on the BJD Government for facilitating illegal mining in Odisha, it is presumed.
Besides, the chit fund scams are another threat to the Naveen Patnaik regime as the head of the tainted AT Group has spilled the beans saying some Ministers and ruling party MlAs helped him in his operations.
To replace Niranjan Patnaik, Gandhi chalked out a strategy of consultations with leaders like Srikant Jena, Jayadev Jena, lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, Pradeep Majhi and Bhakta Charan Das. He was convinced that Jayadev would not be able to lead the State party singlehandedly; so he had to think of a joint leadership strategy.
Jayadev, according to sources, endeared Rahul Gandhi with the support of Digvijay Singh, who was in charge of Uttar Pradesh on behalf of the party while Jena was his deputy. And Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi also helped Jayadev as the former was in charge of Assam, where the Congress again returned to power.
Rahul Gandhi played his cards when Niranjan Patnaik, backed by Jagdish Tytler and Ahmed Patel, was working to his level best to bring the party to power in the State in the next elections. Patnaik no doubt revitalised the party’s rank and file by holding rallies, demonstrations and other programmes. And in fact, the demoralised party workers began dreaming of a comeback to power after about two decades.
The Congress won the recent elections in all the three urban bodies. This, Patnaik had remarked, was “The beginning of the end of the Naveen Patnaik Government”. However, Rahul Gandhi chose to replace him with Jena, a Dalit leader from the same Keonjhar district, both belong to and where they are old intra-party rivals.
The Patnaik family dominated the State Congress politics for about three decades with the senior-most Janaki Ballav Patnaik being the Chief Minister for three times, 1980-85, 1985-90 and 1995-99. JB’s wife Jayanti had been elected to Parliament twice and become Chairperson of the National Commission for Women. Their son-in-law Soumya Ranjan also became an MP while his elder brother Niranjan had been MlA several times besides being a Minister.
After JB’s ouster from the Chief Minister’s post in the wake of the Graham Staines murder and a sensational Kandhamal rape case in 1998-99, he was leader of Opposition in the Assembly. He was later shifted from the State and is now the Governor of Assam.
The Patnaiks had remained dormant till Niranjan became the PCC president. But Niranjan’s ouster before elections has now given a message that Rahul Gandhi did not want to go to elections with a Patnaik at the helm.
As Jena is a leader from the Dalit community, Rahul Gandhi thought he could be a face of this section, whose population is over 16 per cent in the State. Gandhi too made Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das, also a Dalit, an AICC spokesman. In the process, he wanted to send a message that the Congress cares for Dalits.
Rahul Gandhi has also sought to endear the tribals of the State to the Congress for his support to their demand that the Niyamgiri Hill should not be allowed for bauxite mining for the Vedanta alumina refinery project. And the tribals constitute more than 22 per cent of the State’s population.
Rahul Gandhi has also engaged Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo to woo tribals in Odisha. Ramesh during his recent visit to the State announced a package for tribals and dalits while Deo has already given bamboo rights to forest-dwellers. Besides, Deo in a letter to Governor SC Jamir has suggested taking such action that the Niyamgiri Hill is not touched by industries though it has high grade bauxite reserves.