Since 1999, the Congress has been steadily losing its base in Odisha. In the 1999 Parliament elections, the party could not perform well due to a Biju-sympathy wave, the birth of BJD, the BJD-BJP alliance apart from a strong anti-incumbency factor. It had only won Dhenkanal and Koraput Parliament seats.In 2004, the party had lost Dhenkanal seat forever and won Brahmapur and Koraput Parliament seats. Though the Congress came to power at the center in 2004, it was reeling under the anti-incumbency of 1995-2000 in the State.
The electoral situation of the party improved a little bit in 2009 after the collapse of BJD-BJP coalition. While the Congress was defeated in 2009 general election, it could win only six MP seats from south, west and coastal Odisha such as Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Baleswar. However, the party could not carry forward the support of the people of the south and the west Odisha to 2014 general election. It lost all Parliament seats in the State in 2014. In 2019, the Congress, however, could manage to recover only one lost Parliament seat in the State, i.e., Koraput. This was possible as the new young and educated tribal MP, Saptagiri Ulaka, belongs to a veteran Congress family of former MP and MLA Ramachandra Ulaka. But in the Assembly election, the party’s vote share dropped to 15% and it was relegated to third position. The Congress still continues in its third position in the State in the post 2019 by-elections with further loss of vote share.
To retain its vote share, the Congress could have focused more on western and southern Odisha and its traditional social support groups like the Dalits, tribals, minorities and the most backward classes. In absence of any strategies by successive PCC presidents and the Odisha-in-charges appointed by the AICC, the BJD reached out to these social groups who were once with the Congress.
Today, the Congress has installed a historic Dalit CM in Punjab which is a relevant social-engineering for the forthcoming Assembly election in that State. Similarly, the Congress had tried social-engineering with the tribals in Odisha. It had made two tribal CMs such as Hemanda Biswal and Giridhar Gomango during its rule in the State.
But Hemananda became weaker after winning 2009 Parliament election from his home district of Sudargarh. His two brothers had joined the BJD before 2017 Panchyat poll. Of his two daughters, one joined the BJD and fought unsuccessfully from Sundergarh Parliament seat while another fought unsuccessfully from an Assembly seat in Congress ticket in 2019 general election. The double political stand of Hemananda family dampened the poll prospects of the Congress in the district in 2019. However, the Congress could manage to get only one tribal MLA in the district, CS Rajeen Ekka in last election. Giridhar, the other Congress tribal CM, was elected to the Parliament from Koraput seat multiple times since 1972.
He lost the Koraput Lok Sabha seat for the first time in 2009 election to the BJD. But he joined the BJP in 2015 along with his son. His wife, Hema Gamang who had won from Koraput Parliament constituency in 1999 in Congress ticket , later joined the BJD and contested unsuccessfully twice in Assembly elections.
This gave a bad image to the Congress in the undivided Koraput district and the party lost its base to a large extent until last election. The tribal strategy of the Congress failed in the State once and for all. As the Congress had not promoted a Chief Minister from OBC or SC or minority communities, such as Basanta Biswal or Kanhu Lenka or Jaydev Jena or Sk Matlub Ali and so on, it had no other social engineering effect.
However, the party made OBC leaders, Srikant Jena a Union Minister in 2009 and Rama Chandra Khuntia a CWC member but to no effect on State OBC voters. Similarly, making the SC leader, Jayadev Jena, twice PCC president during 2000-2019 had no election effect on the SC communities.
Recently, the BJD is seen moblising the tribals of each district where it has a weak base. The Odisha Government has been developing hockey to attract the tribal youth of Sundargarh. To woo the Santali tribals, the Chief Minister has demanded the inclusion of Ho-language in the Constitution. The State Government is reaching out to PVTGS during the Covid-19 pandemic. The tribal MLAs are given ministerial berths. District level bodies for tribal development have been set up. The BJD has been also inducting various tribal leaders from Congress, BJP and other parties before the local body polls. Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh are two weak districts for the BJD. Mahesh Hembram and
Ramchandra Murmu, former president and vice-president of JMM Odisha unit, have joined the BJD recently in Mayurbhanj. The BJD has organised massive induction programmes in Sundargarh district from the CPM and BJP.
The BJD is expanding in the tribal dominated undivided Koraput district too. Recently, Chandrasekhar Majhi, the former MLA of Kotpad, has joined the BJD. Since Kotpad is an Assembly constituency under Nabarangpur Parliament constituency, the defection of Chandra Sekhar shall damage significant votes of the Congress in the Parliament constituency.
Former Nabarangpur Congress MP Pradip Majhi, who has lost last two consecutive elections, is heard of joining BJD next month to seek his political fortune. Similarly, a few prominent BJP and Congress micro-leaders of Rayagada district have joined the BJD.
While the defection of the Congress leaders to the BJD and the BJP has been going on since 2016 that included one working president Naba Dash, the State Congress is not seen undertaking special retention measures. Instead of asking the disgruntled leaders to leave the party, the AICC-in-charge must do handholding work to stop the erosion of further vote-base of the party.