By D. N. Singh
Whatever the reality to come but Naveen Patnaik, the BJD supremo has provided grains for the opposition for a cause of concern post his statement before the media, that he is giving a serious thought regarding his contesting from western Odisha.
Political observers, however, look at it as a political exigency behind Patnaik’s new choice for the contest from western Odisha instead of from his home ground Hinjili in Ganjam district. Reacting to the news, Patnaik said that he had been approached by people from various strata, mainly the intellectuals from western Odisha, to contest from there and he was giving it a ‘serious thought’.
Reading in between the lines, some political critics give the impression that it might be a tactics to divert the attention of the opposition. In fact, according to some party insiders, Naveen Patnaik, a legislator from Hinjili for consecutive four times, may not take the risk at this hour by avoiding a home ground nurtured for last two decades almost, without sufficient intelligence input on his prospects of winning from western Odisha. Politically it may be a tight rope walk for the BJD supremo if he prefers western Odisha to Ganjam. The opposition BJP and Congress will come out with all the cylinders firing to limit Patnaik’s outreach.
But some purists closely observing the strategies in the BJD camp are of the view that the BJD knows that western Odisha is a pocket now getting more attention from the Bharatiya Janata Party and western Odisha is a region where the Congress can foresee to better its performance this time for which the party president Rahul Gandhi frequenting to the areas and playing up the farmers card all the time.
Patnaik must have the hunch that amid two enemies breathing down his neck, in western Odisha, and trends blowing in favour of the enemy duo, he might have been advised that his candidature from western Odisha may tilt the fulcrum in favour of the BJD to a large extent. By his stand on western Odisha as his next turf, Patnaik has seemingly succeeded to weave an air of confusion among the opposition. Anyway, very shortly it will be clear if he really waves a goodbye to people of Hinjili.
