Samikhsya Bureau
This time it is going to be one of the most interesting political battles people of Odisha may witness. Either history repeats or not but the challenges before the ruling party the Biju Janata Dal are enormous by being the party in power for nearly two decades. Which may become more daunting a task for Naveen Patnaik with the Bharatiya Janata Party having opened its doors for as many rebels from the rival camps to join there.
The euphoria of Naveen Patnaik’s popularity as the singular factor to garner votes can face an uphill task if the trend of desertion from the party continues till the announcement of the final list of each party is announced.
The question is not the numbers alone but the increasing dissensions that might result from denial of tickets and the reasons behind many such denials are not always out of the luxury of the top leader but many such steps are taken under compelling circumstances.
The BJD chief Patnaik is now bound to field seven women candidates and for that he has to deny the tickets to few sitting members of parliament to accommodate the new faces. That might bring in a situation where Patnaik has to walk through a double risk zone . One is the rebellion from the sitting MP and second is the winnability of the women candidate in the face of multi-pronged challenges from the two rival parties and the inevitable anti-incumbency factor that the rebels might add more steam into.
The days are gone, in fact, when any candidate fielded by Naveen Patnaik used to garner votes riding on the crest of Patnaik’s image and popularity. That was a reality at a time when the BJP was playing second fiddle to the BJD in the state and the Congress was battling with perennial internal bickering and was not able to wriggle out of the divisive mess.
But, now the situation is different. Congress has, somehow, managed to showcase a semblance of unity amid all odds aiming at its traditional 25 % plus vote bank and the BJP, this time would be able build the potential road-blocks for the BJD making it out a choice between Naveen and Modi.
Taking in as many former BJD leaders the BJP aims to kill two birds in one shot. One is to gain some grass root footing in certain areas where it is found wanting . Be it the case in either western Odisha or in the coastal parts where leaders like Damodar Rout may not be the winning horses but, they can make as assault on the image of Naveen Patnaik by their repetitive utterances, as they do, and upset voters in some areas.
The situation in Odisha is some what similar to that at the national level. There it is Modi who remains the punching bag for the combination of several outfits and the Congress; and in Odisha, it is Naveen vs the rest.
Both are friendly, politically may be, but are foes in essence. One tries to retain his two decade long unquestioned supremacy in Odisha and the other wants to wrest a second term mainly by wearing the ‘Robinhood’ tag to kill the corrupt and neutralise the rogue neighbour and come back to power.
Be that as it may, either history repeats or not for Modi, but Naveen Patnaik having decided to go it alone with a fresh lot . does seem like, he tries to ride on a tiger.
