BJP sweeps rural polls in Odisha, CM Patnaik dubs it a ‘minor hiccup’
We are still number 1 in Odisha and our members of legislative assemblies MLAs should reconnect with the people (of the state).
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik sought to dismiss the BJP’s spectacular show in the Odisha rural polls as a minor hiccup when he spoke to his legislators on Wednesday.
The BJP, a non-entity in this eastern state by the sea till a couple of years ago, has gained about 300 zilla parishad seats in the recent elections. The party won only 36 in 2012.
But the four-term chief minister and BJD leader put up a brave face in front of his MLAs. “We are still number 1 in Odisha and our MLAs should reconnect with people,” Patnaik said.
The BJD won 460 seats, down by 190 from the previous tally. Official results are scheduled to be announced on Saturday. The confidence in his comments hid a deep anxiety that the BJP’s rise in the state has besieged 70-year-old Patnaik and his party managers.
BJD leaders are doubly worried as the regional party has faced near-total decimation in the tribal belts of Kalahandi, Malkangiri and Mayurbhanj.
In the Maoist hotbed of tribalmajority Malkangiri, the party was pushed to an ignominious third position behind runners-up Congress. The voters, who had backed the BJD in previous assembly and panchayat elections, were angry with the state government’s response when hundreds of their children died in a mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis outbreak.
They were already seething over the government allegedly orchestrating mass surrender of tribals in the name of quelling Maoist violence over the past couple of years.
In Kalahandi, last year’s much-publicised image of a tribal farmer walking 10km carrying his wife’s corpse with his daughter in tow was a reflection of the government’s apathy towards the region. The woman died of tuberculosis, a curable disease but rampant in the countryside.
Just about two years ago, Kalahandi had elected a BJD MP from the royal family and the party won the five assembly seats in the district.
The punishment was swift. The BJP won 34 of the 36 zilla parishad zones in the district last week, thanks to a silent Modi wave. “It was all due to Modi,” said Debendra Mohanty, BJP’s state executive member from Kalahandi. “Demonetisation boosted the party’s image among the poor, who thought PM Modi’s fight against corruption was better than Naveen Patnaik’s rhetoric. More importantly, it has made petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan an alternative to Patnaik.”
The poverty bowl of Koraput, Bolangir and Kalahandi (KBK), which Patnaik has been cultivating through a surfeit of schemes for tribals and Dalits , deserted the BJD. The BJP won about 49% of the 187 zilla parishad seats, a rise of 1,400% compared to 2012 .
The ruling BJD managed to hold its fort only in Koraput.
The Congress has been wiped out almost everywhere, save for the western district of Jharsuguda. “We could not fight the combined money power of the BJD and BJP,” said state PCC chief Prasad Harichandan, who has offered to resign.