Bhubaneswar: Now in Odisha leaders of National Political Parties are talking of ‘Political Models’. As the results of the five assembly elections are out and Governing BJP is celebrating its success in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and Congress happy after Telengana success. Two major national parties have set their eye on Odisha where Regional BJD has been ruling the eastern state for over two decades.
Biju Janata Dal(BJD), which was formed following the demise of legendary leader Biju Patnaik in1997, has been ruling over Odisha since 2000 and his charismatic son Naveen Patnaik becoming Chief Minister of the state five times in a row. Naveen has mean while outsmarted all the national parties, be it Congress and BJP. Both have been diminished in Odisha in presence of Naveen and the younger son of Biju Patnaik going stronger by the day. Naveen remains invincible in Odisha and nothing moves in the state without his wishes.
Though the BJD formed an alliance government in the state with BJP from 2000 to 2009, Naveen later dropped the saffron party like a hotcake and also dubbed it as “communal”. He also described Congress as “corrupt.”
During these 23 years, both BJP and Congress have failed to topple Naveen’s apple cart and he is going smoothly even after such a long time in power. However, with BJP winning in the three states like MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and Congress defeating the regional outfit like KCR’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana, new attempts are made to defeat BJD and Naveen in Odisha.
The opposition parties in Odisha know it for well that they have failed several times to defeat Naveen. Even “Modi Wave” and “Modi Tsunami” have lost steam to shake the Naveen government in Odisha, now the BJP and Congress hope to win Odisha by adopting different models adopted in Hindi heartland and also in southern Telangana.
BJP leaders have openly said that they will adopt the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh model in Odisha and oust the BJD government. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP retained power in the state by announcing sops like “Ladli Yojana ” and other women centric schemes. Not only the BJP countered anti-incumbency factor, the party also won the state of Madhya Pradesh. The BJP as a party including its Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, have openly admitted that the Ladli scheme helped the saffron brigade to win public confidence. Farmers also supported the BJP even as the high price rise and inflation failed to impact BJP votes. Similarly, the BJP could easily win Chhattisgarh while raising several corruption cases. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) ahead of November 7 and 17 polling in the state, claimed that it recorded the statement of a ‘cash courier’ who alleged huge cash deals in Chhattisgarh from the betting App based in UAE. The Chhattisgarh Government rejected these claims, and opined that that central agency is being used as a “weapon” ahead of the state assembly election. The ED also raised another transaction of Rs 2,000 crore in liquor cases. The Congress government in the state paid a heavy price and the ultimate gainer was BJP which came to the power with a thumping majority.
However, in Telangana, the Congress won the elections. This has boosted the morale of Congress workers and leaders in Odisha as they hope that the OPCC could also topple a regional party here as it has tasted success in the Southern States. The OPCC President Sarat Pattnayak believes that the Congress can also defeat the BJD in Odisha by adopting the Telangana model.
Therefore, there are three models in hand of opposition to take on Naveen Patnaik’s BJD in Odisha. While BJP is all set to adopt Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh models in Odisha elections, the Congress openly says to follow the Telangana model in Odisha. However, nobody knows whose model will fetch votes for which party, whether MP model, Chhattisgarh model or Telangana model will work in Odisha.
Sadly nobody is talking about the Odisha model. This is because, both the opposition have utterly failed in Odisha as Naveen remained ahead of others. There should be no doubt that no model is likely to work in Odisha and only Naveen model sales in Odisha’s election bazzar.
Naveen feels the pulse of Odia people and he appears to have taken copyrights of his model which gives rich dividends to BJD in successive elections. What the BJP thinks over MP’s model like Ladli scheme, Naveen has already done that leading to the fact that about 70 lakh women SHG voters are already standing in favour of BJD.
The women have all along, since inception of BJD, come to the rescue of Naveen and the Odisha Chief Minister has often said that his party could rule over Odisha for another 50 years with blessings of women. It is good that the BJP may announce some women centric schemes for women in its manifesto. The aim is to divide the women’s votes. The BJD may also go for a counter strategy to retain its women votes in order to counter the BJP. Naveen may announce some new schemes for women ahead of elections, which the BJP will give assurance to implement if it wins the elections.
Thanks to some senior BJP leaders who gave clues on the BJP’s future strategy for Odisha. The Union Government has meanwhile launched an Income Tax raid on liquor traders of Southern and Western Odisha. Though the BJP central leaders target Congress over it, the party leaders in Odisha have put all their efforts to nail the Governing BJD and stated that this amount of black money could not have been stashed without the support and the patronage of the state government and local leaders. Political analysts see a Chhattisgarh model behind the IT raids. This is high time for both the BJP and the Congress to think of a separate model keeping in view Naveen Patnaik if they want to win elections in2024. Till date opposition has failed to articulate criticism that sticks to BJD Government and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. So Opposition Ecosystem is not well placed to take on the mighty leader. Here Odisha centric model will work not Telengana or Chhattisgarh, feel political analysts.