Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s long nine-day trip to New Delhi from Tuesday has triggered a lot of speculations in the political circles in the State.Sources in the ruling BJD said Patnaik needed a break very badly after a long and hectic election campaign and insisted that there is nothing more to his Delhi trip than his need for some rest .
However, a senior BJD leader said Patnaik is deeply distressed over intelligence reports that the ruling party may not fare well in this elections. Moreover, there are indications that a revolt is brewing in the party against certain party colleagues and bureaucrats who influenced Patnaik in selection of party candidates for both lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
“Naveen babu is seriously worried over the fallouts of a possible truncated mandate for the BJD. He anticipates a situation where he may be targeted not only by the Opposition parties but also by senior leaders of his own party,” the leader said.
Another party source said Patnaik would consult his advisors in Delhi about the options left before him just in case he fails to win enough number of seats in the Assembly and the lok Sabha and work out a plan of action to deal with the storm brewing within his party. There are also reports that some of his colleagues are in touch with the BJP and are looking forward to a situation where they can pose challenges to his leadership,” the source said.
The source said that in Delhi Patnaik would discuss possible post-poll alliances at the Centre with both the BJP and proposed Third Front leaders directly or through his “good friends”.A senior Ministerial colleague of Patnaik, however, said, “It’s now only a matter of time. We are sure we will form the next Government,” he said, adding, “We are confident we will win at least 90 to 95 Assembly seats and 13 to 14 lok Sabha seats. Naveen babu is not one bit nervous, as some would like to believe.”
But there are reports that several BJD veterans are likely to question Patnaik’s authority over the party, though by not taking on him directly now but by targeting those close to him, in the event of an unimpressive electoral performance by the party .Political observers point out that the fact that senior party leaders like Prafulla Chandra Ghadai and Kalindi Behera have gone public about their grievances over the selection of candidates does not augur well for Naveen Patnaik.
Now, these aggrieved leaders’ targets are mostly Kalpataru Das and a bureaucrat who played key roles in deciding the candidates, but it is Patnaik who would ultimately be blamed if the BJD fails to win a comfortable majority in the Assembly, the observers feel.