By D.N. Singh
A cursory glance at the new political narratives emerging in Odisha are getting all the more interesting. Either there is no stock to be sold or no customer to buy the narratives. The political outlets inaugurated by two over-discussed Naveen Patnaik bashers like Damodar Rout and Baijayant Panda have their narratives fall on the wayside and it seems there is no one to buy them.
Very recently, the change in the tone of Panda towards Modi’s attitudinal change as regards Patnaik sounds more like frustration than a sound political commentary from a man who had remained a fence sitter, triggering speculations about an asylum for him in the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP). Why suddenly he has started finding evils in the notional good relation between Modi and Patnaik rather than singing the paeans in praise of Modi is anybody’s guess.
Since last few visits to Odisha the Prime Minister has sobered down his voice towards Naveen Patnaik. But why Panda discovered it so late? Was he in the slumber of eminence?
By commenting that there is an exchange of fire between Modi and Patnaik with toy guns or a kind of cracker show reveals the dark underbelly of his dwindling political credibility. About a week back Panda was on record saying that now it was time he would take a decision about his next step over his joining a political party or be a part of, or lead the anti-Naveen conglomeration comprised of Damodar Rout, Braja Kishore Tripathy, Panchanan Kanungo, Dilip Ray and Bijay Mohapatra — a galaxy of desperate souls looking for salvation through a new political identity.
Conviction is the luxury of side-liners and that is exactly what Panda is now at. That somehow exposes his penchant for playing political footsie rather than exuding his own political mantle.
Fairly recently Kanungo, another erstwhile BJD leader, reportedly made up his mind about looking for shelter in the Congress in the eventuality of BJD chief Patnaik not showing any interest to consider his come back to BJD.
A seasoned politician, Kanungo, who has been through many political turmoil in the past, has perhaps, sensed that the recent rise in the graph of Congress elsewhere also may impact the electoral trend in Odisha to help the former to come out as the first runners up in 2019 if not the champion. But Kanungo sounds touchy about one thing — whether he will get an identity there commensurate to his seniority in politics. “For me self-respect is equally important wherever I go,” says Kanungo.
All said and done, the cracking of a fresh combination taking together the above anti-Naveen leaders appears nebulous so far. It is apparent that Rout, Panda, Tripathy, Kanungo, Mohapatra and Ray are not the ones to choose subordination to each other. And that is where the others main parties, including the BJD, may enjoy the floor.
