Samikhsya Bureau
Amid the blitzkrieg of rebellion, changing parties and spew of vitriol every other day, the climate in all the camps appears bit stormy. One suddenly finds emergence or reappearance of few forgotten people in this orbit of politics.
Being the ruling party in the state, the BJD has naturally remains in the focus of many debates. It is not to question or comment on the wisdom that drives politics but there must be a point where the leadership must, for a while, reassess its strength and weakness rather than banking purely on the charisma of one man. Politics can’t be always weighed in the war rooms alone and any clinical approach at this juncture by upsetting certain people with a sound footing can be counterproductive also.
Denial of ticket to Arjun Sethi’s son raised some heckles. A six times member of parliament preceded by two times as MLA , Sethi had not over-stepped his brief by pleading for a place for his son and it was not a so big stake. Mainly in view of the slew of cases where family politics has had a predominance in Odisha politics. It is the buzz in all the political parties in Odisha for long, which is called family politics.
If scam-tainted leaders like Prabhat Tripathy or Prabhat Biswal or a proliferating upsurge of the trend of sons and daughters being pitch-forked as leaders, then Sethi’s demand or request was not totally bereft of the moral legitimacy. .
Ailing dilemma of delay
The animated suspense over the holding back the announcements of candidates for few major Lok sabha seats by the BJD, BJP and the Congress leaves many aspirants in a state of unease.
What is evident that all the three major parties are lying in wait for each other before releasing the rest names for both Lok sabha and assembly seats. But, BJD, by virtue of its political position and presumably reeling under the pressure of a punching bag, political analysts feel that there is a fair amount of defensive posturing by the BJD.
But, if, offence can be the best defence at times, then secrecy over Lok sabha seats such as Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar unmask the ruling party’s chest-beating claim for the lion’s share. It must take the lead in fact but it has not. Imagine the mental tension that the aspirants must be suffering from.
And for the ones who leave one party and go to the other, should not see much political dividend in majority cases. That is natural culmination in this game of electoral stroboscope when, what one manages to see, may not be so. Defeatist impulses have caught hold of all the parties which they are not able to hide behind pep-talks.
