If the Congress has been out of power in Odisha for last 17 years, it is for its nagging problem of indiscipline, internal feud and dissent among members. And the same problem seems to beset the ruling BJD now even if the party is constantly downplaying it. The second article of the BJD floor leader in lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahtab, giving clarifications on an article published in his newspaper ‘The Prajatantra’, gives not just an indication of a serious fact that he has least regard for what his party supremo wants from him but a growing sense of alienation felt by the first or second rung of leaders in the BJD for which a few of them have opted to air their viewpoints, nay grievances, through means other than direct communication with the party chief.
The other way round, the boss too seems to be lacking the guts and frankness to be in direct touch with party leaders. The reactions of BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and a few of the BJD leaders like Surjya Narayan Patro, Debasis Samantray, Pratap Deb andMahes Sahoo to Mahtab’s second article explain that they also prefer to create an uproar in media over sorting out the matter with the apparently disgruntled Cuttack MP within the party forum.
When Patnaik said his senior leaders should directly come to him if they have a negative view concerning the party or Government, he also used the media instead of calling a meeting of his leaders on the issue in strict confidentiality. By this, he not just pulled up a few leaders like Mahtab who have earlier given statements contrary to the party’s interest but was caught unawares of committing the same mistake for which he wants to taunt others.
Minister and senior BJP leader Dr Damaodar Rout earlier had created much embarrassment for the party boss by making off-the-cuff statements several times. However, since he spoke in a
style as though he knows everything and is the only Mr Clean to stand apart from the rest, his views were taken rather in a lighter vein.
Though Rout has of late been on the back foot after the ZP seat success of the BJP in his constituency Paradip and the rise in stature of Bishnu Das, during the time he was vocal, it is also a point as to why he was not directly talking to the CM was being raised. Nobody knows how many times Rout met the CM on his own or the CM summoned him up for discussion.
Now, Mahtab is in focus for repeatedly writing articles on BJD matters in media. Not long ago, another senior leader and Kendrapada MP Baijayant Panda was also in news for writing about BJD affairs in an article in a newspaper. His article followed an unsavoury faceoff over Twitter with Tathagata Satpathy, another BJD leader and Dhenkanal MP, concerning some BJD insider helping the BJP on the latter’s plan for a split in the regional party.