Samikhsya Bureau
After the announcement by Tathagat Satapathy not to contest elections any further, the news cannot be taken in isolation. Maybe it is part of a bigger exodus from the Biju Janata Dal as is apprehended in some quarters of the party. There is no ambiguity that the BJD leadership is mulling for a substantial reshuffling in the distribution of tickets by refusing tickets to some prominent faces whether they are MLAs or MPs.
Because the realisation must have dawned upon the party supremo Naveen Patnaik and his close associates that to make a comeback to power, winning of assembly seats is as important as winning a majority of the Lok Sabha seats. The first would help him to romp back home for the fifth consecutive time to retain power and second, out of 21 Lok sabha seats , a lion share can position the BJD to play the cards in Parliament in either ways. Be it the NDA coming back to power at the Centre or the UPA, the arithmetic lends a good leverage to any regional party and the tacit understanding between the BJD and the NDA as manifested during last five years requires no further corroboration.
That way Satapathy’s surprise decision to distance himself from electoral politics should not be measured by any emotional calculus as stated by him. As an able member of Parliament, Satapathy has proved his mettle in the Lok Sabha on many issues of critical nature and had remained one of the few most noticed MPs from Odisha. But his disillusionment with electoral politics in a huff can also be traced to recent past when he had made a few observations over some BJD ministers to become a cause for the top leadership to bring him under the vigil which might have transpired in chatters in the BJD grapevines that Satapathy may not be given a ticket in 2019.
Making certain cryptic and often tongue-in-cheek opinions on certain issues has remained an usual trait of Satapathy’s political narratives. For which in the past he had paid the price of course.
Sources in the BJD drop the hints about few more big heads to roll. According to them more than 50 per cent Lok Sabha seats may have new faces.
Whether it is Bhubaneswar or Puri, the chances of change in candidate is very likely. The other prominent constituencies slated for change in BJD candidates are likely to be Berhampur, Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Kalahandi, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Khandhamal, Bhadrak and few more.
