BJP flexes its muscles in Odisha as 'friendly fight' sign is switched off

BJP has released a list of 112 candidates in Odisha

The gloves are off in Odisha. Initially meant to be a friendly competition while discussions of a potential alliance between BJP and BJD were ongoing, the tone has changed. Not any longer.

The BJP's main objective in the state is to capture the most Lok Sabha seats to highlight its central rallying cry: Ab ki baar 400 paar. In that context, the BJP would primarily like to invest heavily in the fight for Lok Sabha seats. But if the assembly kitty swells in the slipstream, it would be a bonus.

The trio of key players in the BJP viewed as crucial to clinch success are Dharmendra Pradhan from Sambalpur, Aparajita Sarangi from coveted Bhubaneswar and BJP’s famed talking head Sambit Patra from Puri.

In addition, the LS seats of Cuttack and Dhenkanal are also perceived as strategic to the overall electoral booty.

There is a theory making rounds that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) strategically nominated less competitive candidates in the top 3 seats to maintain a good relationship with the BJP, while channelizing its energies and resources to beef up its state kitty.

Odisha’s capital boasts of the state’s intelligentsia likes to vote for candidates whom they can mentally tango with. Aparajita has a good track record as a bureaucrat. She was very popular during her tenure. Against her, rookie Manmath Routray is the BJD candidate. He resigned his Air India pilot’s job to join politics. His father is a Cong MLA.  On paper there is no match.

From Puri, former top cop Arup Patnaik takes on Sambit Patra. He lost the 2019 elections badly. While he manages the youth wing of BJD – Biju Bahini, ground reports say he isn’t exactly very popular. Sambit, who has kept in close touch with Puri over the last 5 years surely has an edge.

From Sambalpur, Pranab Prakash “Bobby” Das, who is the organizational secretary of BJD, takes on Dharmendra Pradhan. It seems BJD doesn’t see Pradhan as a threat within the state thereby indicating their energies would be channelized elsewhere.

In the state assembly fight, the BJP re-nominated 21 of its 22 sitting MLAs in Odisha while announcing the list of candidates for 112 of the 147 Assembly constituencies. Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra from Brahmagiri in Puri district was the only sitting MLA to be dropped. His niece Upasana Mohapatra has got the nod instead.

BJP state president Manmohan Samal will contest from the Chandbali assembly segment in Bhadrak district while sitting MP from Bargarh, Suresh Pujari, will contest from Brajarajnagar Assembly seat. Pujari didn’t get a ticket for the Lok Sabha polls.

Leader of Opposition and MLA Jaynarayan Mishra will contest from his traditional Sambalpur assembly seat.

Three who turned their backs on BJD, Arabinda Dhali, Akash Das Nayak and Priyadarshi Mishra were given BJP tickets.

Odia film stars have switched to the BJP, with Kendrapara MP Anubhav Mohanty the latest to jump ship. In 2019, Mohanty had a big win trouncing BJP leader Jay Panda — who had defected from the BJD. Mohanty was hit with a very public spat with his actress wife Varsha Priyadarshini. Result: BJD dropped him like a hot potato. By the way he also got divorced.

Another popular actor-turned-politician Siddhant Mohaptra, a two-time MP from Berhampur, joined the BJP. Former Korei MLA Akash Das Nayak, another popular actor, followed suit. Both felt they were victims of neglect. The actor list also includes Arindam Roy. Interestingly, he is the brother-in-law of Bobby Das.

Barring veteran actor Prashanta Nanda, who had prior links with the BJP and BJD, no other actor has won Odisha Assembly or Lok Sabha polls from any party other than the BJD. But the party which embraces them hopes to ride on their fan following in a perception game.

The 2 other LS seats in the limelight are: Cuttack and Dhenkanal. The BJP fielded Bhartruhari Mahtab, veteran MP from Cuttack, as its candidate, days after he joined the saffron party following his resignation from BJD.

Mahtab has represented the Cuttack Lok Sabha 6 times on a row on a BJD ticket since 1998. He resigned from the BJD on March 22, alleging the vast amassing of wealth by individuals at the BJD, which was established to fight corruption.

Santrupt Misra, who is for the first time testing electoral politics after resigning as Group Director and CEO Chemical Business of Aditya Birla Group, is the BJD candidate. The Aditya Birla Group, as reported, has extensive mining interests in the region. And could be some form of payback.

Local poll experts are examining certain assumptions at the top-level coordination between the BJP and BJD. These assumptions are worth looking at as they might indicate what lies ahead:

The BJP top-level apparently doesn’t want to destabilize Naveen Patnaik

• BJP certainly wants more LS seats to get to its magical aspirational figure of 400 seats
• Odisha after Naveen Patnaik would open up the state for BJP to take over
• BJD is a huge state organization, and it occupies critical regional space. So, it won’t be a walk over for any party
• If former bureaucrat and the chief minister’s close aide VK Pandian remains at the helm of affairs he could be seen as a B-Team of the BJP