STATE OF PLAY
In the Brajarajnagar bypoll in Odisha, Alaka Mohanty, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate, polled 61.24% of the votes, beating the Congress and BJP candidates hollow. This was the BJD’s fifth bypoll victory on the trot. With this win, the BJD’s strength in the 147-member Assembly has gone up to 113 and the Naveen Patnaik-led regional party has shown just how seemingly invincible it is at this point. In the March 2022 rural polls, the BJD had won nearly 90% or 766 of the 852 Zilla Parishad seats. The BJP and Congress had to contend with 42 and 37 seats, respectively. The BJD later swept the urban body polls too, by winning 76 of the 108 civic bodies.
What do these victories signify for the BJD? In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won eight seats and secured 38.4% of the votes. In the Assembly elections that year, it dislodged the Congress from the second position by winning 23 of the 147 seats. It created a massive buzz around these victories. This apparently did not go down well with Mr. Patnaik, who is known as a silent yet ruthless leader in electoral politics. The BJD’s victories in subsequent elections showed his determination in halting the BJP’s march. The Brajarajnagar bypoll result is especially important as the Assembly segment is part of the Bargarh parliamentary constituency, which the BJP had won in 2019. The BJD has been trying to re-consolidate its position in the districts of western Odisha, which are considered a BJP stronghold. In most of the bypolls after the 2019 elections, the BJD supremo did not campaign in person for the party. He sent out the message that the BJD has a robust election machinery and did not need him for canvassing every time.
For the BJP, the bypoll loss was humiliating as it had fielded Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. With the BJD’s winning streak, the BJP appears to be losing the significant inroads it had made into the regional party’s bastions in the 2017 panchayat and 2019 Assembly elections.
Mr. Patnaik, who is serving his fifth term as Chief Minister, is the undisputed leader of his party. Political observers say the manner in which he reconstituted his cabinet after the Brajarajnagar bypoll victory was unprecedented. He directed all the ministers to tender their resignation. After the formation of the new council of ministers, Mr. Patnaik invited 11 of the dropped ministers to work for the organisation. No murmurs were heard against the decision.
If there is one issue which sent the BJD government into a panic in recent times, it was the controversy over its flagship beautification programme of the Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri, which the government is trying to develop along the lines of the Kashi-Vishwanath Corridor project. The BJP had alleged that the project would pose a threat to the safety and stability of the temple. However, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition challenging the project and provided relief to the BJD. Significantly, Jagannath Saraka, the tribal leader from Rayagada, was called to take oath ahead of others in the new ministry despite not being a senior minister nor holding a key portfolio. Mr. Patnaik is known for such symbolism. The Shree Mandira Parikrama Project, Mr. Patnaik’s temple development programme, is aimed at blocking all of the BJP’s efforts to challenge the BJD.
The bypoll victory, the reshuffle, and the redevelopment of the surroundings of the Jagannath temple appear to have energised Mr. Patnaik, who is said to be undertaking his first foreign tour in a decade at the end of this month. In 2012, the BJD supremo had faced a revolt when he was abroad. Ten years later, it is clear that he is in absolute command.
satyasundar.b@thehindu.co.in
