Samikhsya Bureau
After a tedious phase of brain-storming arithmetic over selection of candidates BJD chief Naveen Patnaik started his campaign from Ganjam district.
Patnaik made it go with a number of uncomfortable questions thrown at the Centre and alleged that the Modi-led government’s sudden heart-bleeding is nothing but an off-shoot of electoral compulsions to woo the vote bank.
Patnaik, who had remained silent for quite some time weathering patiently the vitriol from the Prime Minister and BJP president Amit Shah, on Wednesday shed the inertia and kick-started with a 60 km long road show in the Ganjam district and sometimes addressing the people from the roof of the bus.
Preceded by the public address at Kanisi, Patnaik, on board a luxury bus decked for the occasion, he will roll through the areas in and around Berhampur and cover many areas to connect himself with the people.
The toughest challenge before the BJD and Patnaik in particular is to retain the momentum in favour of the BJD and obliterate the blots made on the 19 years old regime seem struggling a headwind of anti-incumbency factor also.
Wednesday’s campaign by Patnaik assumes the significance from the stiff itinerary of the leader that included two meetings and a hectic road show.
Ganjam being the home turf for Patnaik for last four general elections and getting elected from Hinjili assembly segment as the MLA, the BJD supremo must be finding it tough to keep his charisma alive against the oratory firepower of the Prim Minister Narendra Modi.
What matters in electoral politics is the loud filibustering that Patnaik hardly resorts to. His speeches are tailored in a fashion to be short and bold, although his delivery usually lacks the rabble rousing quality.
During his first meeting, Patnaik raised a very pertinent point against the NDA by saying that the central leaders were nowhere to be seen during the bad times like calamities but, now, when it was about votes, there was a beeline!
Whether advantage or predicament, Patnaik is the lone star face taking on a battery of political adversaries.
No less amusing that in the blaze of his high voltage campaign, even the media coverage remains focussed on one man and it may leave many wondering as what happened to the candidate!
