As if apparently substantiating the BJP high command’s claim that Odisha is on its way for a “big (political) change”, BJD head and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has come under fresh threats not only from the BJP but from within his own party too.
The intra-BJD challenge to Patnaik’s leadership is now posed by his once-trusted MP Baijayant Panda, who has echoed opposition parties’ and many independent political observers’ charges that the Patnaik Government is driven by bureaucrats and is increasingly mired in myriad instances of corruption and that criminals are under the protection of the administration.
More significantly, Panda has also referred to the allegation that bureaucrats too are running the affairs of the BJD.
Panda’s potshots at Patnaik have come in the form of a signed article in a major daily Odia newspaper on Tuesday in which Panda has argued that now is the time of a serious “self-introspection” within the BJD. Though Panda has stated that the views expressed in the article are his personal observations, it cuts no ice in view of his standing in the ruling party from its inception.
And Panda has hit the point which undoubtedly disturbs the BJD, especially Naveen Patnaik, most in the present political scenario in the State. He has referred to the rise of the BJP as a viable alternative to the BJD in the wake of the saffron party’s unexpectedly impressive victory in the recent panchayat elections in the State and the impact of this party’s thumping win the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Assembly polls across the country, including Odisha.
Panda has referred to the emergence of an effective leader in the BJP, purportedly referring to Dharmendra Pradhan, in the State and stated that this is a challenge to the BJD, nay Patnaik.
And when Panda has stated that the corruptions and criminal activities in the Congress Government in 1997 gave rise to the emergence of the BJD, he means that the BJP may replace the BJD now.
The article of Panda, who represents the BJD from Kendrapada in the lok Sabha, came out a day after another BJD MP, Tathagata Satpathy, accused a BJD MP, obviously referring to Baijayant Panda, of helping the BJP to “split” the BJD.
There has been a rumour in political circles for quite a long time that Panda is tilted towards the BJP, for which Naveen Patnaik has been keeping a distance from him. But what Panda has now publicly stated about the states of affairs in the BJD and its Government is but true.
Now, it is interesting to mark what Minister and BJD vice-president Damodar Rout has said about Panda’s views incorporated in his article. Rout is of the opinion that Panda should have aired his views at party forums and before Naveen Patnaik. But what about Rout himself when he recently in the State Assembly accused the bureaucracy of making him a “helpless and inefficient Minister”IJ Did he ever tell Patnaik about his helplessness before venting his feeling in the legislatureIJ In fact, the statements of Panda and Rout are viewed ominous for the BJD and Patnaik long ahead of the 2019 general elections in the State, much for Patnaik to worry about.