BJD defensive, BJP upbeat, Cong united
When a senior BJP leader said the political scene in Odisha has changed very fast during the last six months with the ruling BJD handing over ammunitions to the Opposition, political observers were bemused. A close look into the present political scene reveals the change.
Two scams — chit fund and land — have made BJD on the defensive and BJP upbeat, while the in-fight ridden Congress is not able to take advantage of the situation, agree political observers.
In fact, there have been interesting changes in the political spectrum of Odisha since May this year. Changes have taken place even as heads of three major parties — BJD, BJP and Congress — remain unchanged. But the style of functioning of the parties has undergone change.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik continues to remain the president of the ruling BJD. However, there has been change in the party after the last general elections. The people once considered close confidants of Patnaik, who had a say over party ticket distribution, are no more seen on the third-floor of the State Secretariat or at the Naveen Nivas, thanks to the land scam.
The once all-powerful Rajya Sabha MP and BJD vice-president Kalpataru Das is no longer active in the party affairs. Das, during the last five months, have been out of the scene after his family was found possessing a large number of properties including flats, plots and land. Though he tried to explain his point of view, he is nowhere in the political scene today.
Similarly, Ministers like Sanjay Dasburma and Arun Sahu, who were the Chief Minister’s ears and eyes, are no longer calling the shots. Both the young leaders are apparently silent and struggling hard to retain their position in the Council of Ministers. The three trusted men of Patnaik are no more active.
The BJD supremo has taken new people to take up matters in the Government and the party. Ministers like Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Pushpendra Singhdeo, former Minister Pratap Keshari Deb and MlA Samir Ranjan Das have now emerged powerful. Patnaik changed his men after realizing the fact that these people have failed in maintaining image of the party and the Government.
Change is also evident in the opposition BJP. There are, however, reasons for the change in the BJP as the party has meanwhile formed the Government at the Centre and is now headed by Amit Shah as the national president. Though KV Singh Deo continues to be the State unit’s president, it seems he is losing the grip. Known anti-Patnaik leader Bijay Mohapatra has taken the centre stage in the saffron party.
Besides his daughter’s name being raised in the Ghangapatna land scam, Singh Deo’s importance has declined after two leaders, Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan, became Union Ministers. Singh Deo’s close men are no more calling the shots in the BJP and the party is mostly taken over by Mohapatra, Oram and Pradhan. While Mohapatra has been directly taking up issues against Patnaik on mining, chit-fund and land scams, Oram and Pradhan are engaged in projecting BJP’s image.
Similarly, there also appears change in the State’s principal opposition party — Congress. Jaydev Jena continues to remain the OPCC head while the infighting in the party is still on. However, in Congress, the importance of Biswal brothers (Chiranjib and Ranjib) is on the rise while Jena brothers (Jaydev and Srikant) have been sidelined.
Chiranjib and his MP brother Ranjib have been invited by the party high command several times and they have become powerful in the Congress while Jenas are counting their days. As usual, Patnaiks led by Niranjan Patnaik also continue to stick to its agenda. Niranjan, however, is against change of guard in the OPCC as he is opposed to the Biswals. The strong man from Keonjhar knows it better that the party’s high command is not going to install any member of the Patnaik group. If Jenas are replaced, it may be Biswals but certainly not anyone from Patnaik group. Therefore, Niranjan prefers not to change the OPCC leadership at least for now.
So Niranjan along with members of the Patnaik group has been active in Kandhamal and wants to show the State that Congress is united in Kandhamal. Patnaiks also want to prove that there is no need to change Jaydev Jena now. AICC general secretary BK Hariprasad is virtually the OPCC president and taking all groups to Kandhamal.
As the changes in three major political parties are evident, the political observers calculate who is up and who is down. There should be no doubt that Congress is down while BJP is upbeat, especially due to its Government at the Centre.
Though Bijay Mohapatra is no match to Naveen so far as popularity is concerned, he has a plus point that there is no such corruption charge against the man from Kendrapara district. He might have lost consecutive elections, but he remains clean and this could help him, feel political observers.
The ruling BJD which won the twin elections in April-May, however, is on defensive as the party has faced criticism from different quarters over the chit fund and land scams. The chit fund scam has dealt a big blow to the image of BJD, especially after arrest of the former Advocate General Ashok Mohanty. The CBI has, meanwhile, interrogated certain BJD MP and MlAs and raided their houses.
The CBI investigation into the chit fund scam has clearly indicated that a good number of the ruling party members were aware of the activities of the Ponzi companies and supported them for which these white-collar criminals were able to loot the poor people, who have all along supported the BJD. This has turned BJD defensive. However, the Kandhamal by-poll results will reveal whether opposition BJP and Congress are able to take advantage of the situation or not.