BJP draws plan to make gains in former ally’s citadel
BHUBANESWAR: Friendly ties with the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) going back to 1997, when it helped carve out the regional party as a breakaway fraction of the Janata
Dal, eventually proved to be an impediment for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s growth in Odisha, leaders in the eastern state said.
The two parties, which have been allies and shared friendly ties for over two decades, are now competing against each other in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha, where the political battle has intensified with each party vying to outmanoeuvre the other.
Elections to the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha will be held in four phases starting May 13. Voting for the assembly seats in corresponding Lok Sabha constituencies will be held simultaneously. The results will be out on June 4.
The BJP, with eight Lok Sabha members and 23 legislators in the state, has set its sights on doubling the number of MPs and forming the government. At a poll rally on May 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that a BJP-led government will be sworn in on June 10 and that June 4 will be the expiry date of the Naveen Patnaik government, which has been in power for five terms.
Patnaik, who is the longestserving chief minister of the state, in his sangfroid demeanour, dismissed it is as “daydreaming”.
A tough journey
The BJP’s journey for expansion in Odisha has been a difficult one, not due to a formidable opponent thwarting its moves but because it was taking on a “friendly opponent” that made gaining a foothold difficult. “The BJP gave Naveen Patnaik the resources and strategic help to create the BJD in 1997. During those long, suspenseful days preceding the decision of whether he would ally with the BJP, it was Pramod Mahajan (late BJP leader) who encouraged Patnaik and his close aides to take the plunge,” a senior BJP functionary said on condition of anonymity.
The meetings held at Patnaik’s Delhi residence, with Ashok Das, Bijoy Mahapatra and Tathagata Satpathy in attendance, culminated in the announcement of a new political entity in the mineral-rich state that also had some of the most backward districts of the country. The two parties became allies in 1998. “Since then, we have never had a chance to aggressively pursue our agenda, ideology or even expansion in the state,” the functionary said.
When the devastating super cyclone, Paradip, hit Odisha on October 29, 1999, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee extended all help to the state — in a move that BJP leaders say set the stage for the cementing of ties between the two parties.
“Over the years, owing to the equation between our leaders, we had to first operate within the limitations of alliance politics, and then as friendly ties since we needed the BJD’s support in Parliament,” the senior leader added. In 2024, however, the equations are realigning. “Although the BJP contested elections before [as well], the shift happened in 2017, when we won over 300 of the 853 zila panchayat posts. That is when the BJD began to see us as a challenger,” a second BJP leader said, also asking not to be named.
It was only then that work on setting up offices, identifying leaders and attacking the BJDled government on issues began in earnest. BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal, one of the trusted strategists who has worked well in states such as
Uttar Pradesh, was given charge of Odisha in August 2022. The state cadre was encouraged to take an aggressive posture against the BJD. “A lot of work needed to be done for having our workers at every booth, organise the structure at the mandal level, the lowest administrative block. But we did that in 2019; our vote share increased as did the seats,” the second leader said.
The results in the 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly elections showed an upward curve from five years ago. The party went from 16.9% vote share to 38.4% in the Lok Sabha and from 16.12% to 32.49% in the assembly.
Attacking the CM
The BJP’s election strategy in Odisha is pitched on the promise of a better development model, empowerment of youth, women and the marginalised sections, and through the emotive issue of Hindutva ideology. But it is also pushing a “missing chief minister” narrative, claiming there is a vacuum.
“This election is for badlav (change). There are three things missing: the chief minister, his absence from administrative decision making, and his grasp on political and party issues. And the people of Odisha can see this,” said a third BJP functionary, who is a key member of the party’s strategy building, asking not to be named.
Challenging the narrative of a popular chief minister, the third leader said the popularity and charisma of Patnaik has been on the wane and since 2019 has accelerated towards decline.
“The fact that some of his oldest colleagues and confidants like Bhartruhari Mahtab have quit the party is an indication of how things have changed in the state. And how BJP has taken the centre stage as the alternative,” the third leader said.
Mahtab, a former BJD lawmaker and now BJP’s candidate from Cuttack, backs the “missing CM” charge. “The person who was in the driver’s seat leading the state and the party has been relegated to the background. A person who was once upon a time his private secretary is now controlling the party,” he said, in an apparent reference to VK Pandian, the bureaucrat-turnedpolitician.
Claiming he sees “no future” for the BJD, Mahtab added: “I say this not because I’m not there, but because I see how there was a gradual loss of support base for the regional party.” To be sure, the ostensible “silence” of Patnaik is not a recent phenomenon. He is known for brevity and for not attacking his political opponents with innuendo or abuse.