Apparently perturbed by an unprecedented success of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent panchayat elections and the scheduled visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah here on April 15 and 16 and also due to the continuing rumblings within its own fold, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Sunday embarked on a week-long so-called brainstorming exercise with newly-elected panchayat samiti members of the party.
On the opening day on Sunday, BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met the elected members of the party from Jajpur district in the presence of MlAs and MPs of the district at the party headquarters here.
“The Chief Minister asked them to reach out to people and educate them on the Government’s welfare schemes. Such meetings will again be conducted after six months,” BJD spokesperson Amar Satpathy, who is also from the district, said.
“The elected representatives who ought to propagate the Government’s pro-people programmes came to attend the programme. Among other things, effective implementation of the programmes and strengthening the party at the grassroots level was discussed,” the district’s Dharmasala MlA Pranab Kumar Balabantaray said.
Patnaik’s interactions with the party’s panchayat functionaries are slated to continue till April 8 covering all districts in phases. This assumes significance in view of the 2019 general elections and the BJP high command’s declared intention to give priority to Odisha politics. Significantly, the BJP is going to hold its national executive meeting in Bhubaneswar on April 15 and 16 to be attended by Modi and Amit Shah.
Political observers feel Naveen Patnaik decided to interact with BJD panchayat functionaries particularly after the party’s Kendrapada MP Baijayant Panda repeatedly aired his view in public for an immediate need for self-introspection in the BJD in a bid to take corrective measures in the backdrop of the BJP’s increasing influence in the State.