Odisha: BJP’s heavy hitters knock out Naveen Patnaik after 24 years

The dominance of non-Odia IAS officers in administrative matters and their political interference triggered massive public resentment.

Just a few days ago, a video of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressing a rally with his hands shaking uncontrollably was a foreboding of what was to follow. His worried aide and placeholder VK Pandian holding the mike, and then in a desperate bid pushing Patnaik’s trembling hand away from view foreshadowed an ominous sign of change.

The BJP, having gone solo in Odisha, pounced upon the moment. None other than PM Narendra Modi said he was worried about his friend Naveen’ s health. He wondered why Naveen’s health had worsened so rapidly. And was he being cared for?

This sent out the signal that an ageing CM was no longer in command. He was over-dependent on Pandian, who was not even an Odia. Naveen tried his best to paper over the cracks by telling the media he was fine. But, possibly, it was the last straw.

And that was reflected in the Assembly and Lok Sabha results of Odisha today. Trends show BJP inching towards the majority mark, as it leads in trends at Bargarh, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Puri, Sambalpur and Keonjhar, while the ruling BJD is leading in 52 seats and Congress in 15.

Naveen Patnaik could never ever have imagined that his tenure of 24 years as chief minister of Odisha would end up with a double loss. His Biju Janata Dal (BJD) lost to BJP on both counts: the state assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

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Naveen has been the chief minister of Odisha since 2000. He was seeking a 6^th term.

In the 2019 Odisha Assembly Elections, the BJD had won a comfortable majority by winning 112 seats. The BJP had then won 23 seats of the total 147 assembly seats in Odisha. In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections too, the BJD had won 12 seats, four more than the BJP (8 LS seats).

So what went wrong?

The dominance of non-Odias in the Odisha state government gave a clear handle for a deep rift between the Odia bureaucrats and the crack team led by Pandian. Offline messages were given that an ailing CM had handed over de facto charge to Pandian.

Crores of rupees were spent for meetings and tours of VK Pandian as he “connected” with the people. Often his posters would adorn the roadshows with no sign of Naveen. He would sit alone on the dais like a crown prince. MLAs and ministers were given short shrift.

The dominance of non-Odia IAS officers in administrative matters and their political interference triggered massive public resentment.

Then talk veered to failing Odia Asmita (pride). This was another nail in Naveen’s political coffin. Here was a CM who was still not very fluent in speaking Odia or simply didn’t care while a Tamilian was now running the show. The Odia pride was badly hurt.

The BJP swiftly moved in for the kill. Their heavy hitters including Modi, JP Nadda, Amit Shah as well as chief ministers of Assam and UP showed up in Odisha to slam BJD.

Moreover, the BJP nailed the BJD government over other important issues like the missing key of Ratna Bhandar, demand for the opening of all four gates of Srimandir, alleged hiding of the report of the Commission of Inquiry, and inaction in the mining and chit fund scam.

Then the BJP offers came tumbling out. Rs 50,000 vouchers under Subhadra Yojana were promised for women, 1.5 lakh jobs for youths and Rs 3100 MSP for farmers.

Modi further attacked the BJD over the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove). He said the 12th century temple was not safe under BJD rule and the 'Ratna Bhandar' keys were missing for the last six years.

The Ratna Bhandar houses the precious ornaments of the deities - Lord Jagannath, Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra - given by devotees and former kings over centuries.

It was last opened on July 14, 1985. Afterwards, in 2018, the Orissa High Court directed the government to open the chamber for physical inspection. However, the keys to the chamber were missing.

The last inventory of the Ratna Bhandar was reportedly done between May 13 and July 23, 1978. Though it was opened again on July 14, 1985, the inventory was not updated.

Modi questioned why the duplicate keys were made and if someone was opening the Ratna Bhandar with the duplicate key. Could the precious jewels of the deities been stolen using these duplicate keys?

Amit Shah said the probe report on Ratna Bhandar would be made public within 6 days of the BJP coming to power in the state. He also promised to make the full inventory of the ornaments public.

This “treasure issue” had serious political ramifications. No wonder the PM, HM and a CM were involved in this slugfest.

Another major factor in hindsight was the failure of a pre-poll alliance between BJD and BJP. In fact, the BJP and BJD had ruled Odisha in an alliance for nine years before ending their partnership in 2009.

BJD’s insistence on not letting BJP in for power sharing. And BJP wanting to contest more assembly seats which Naveen was not in favour of was a deal-breaker.

PM Modi, who had so far avoided criticising the BJD government, now launched a blistering attack. Modi spoke of how "Odia asmita” and Odia language were in danger, it was interpreted as a direct attack on Naveen.

The contentious issue of sharing of Assembly seats was the main trigger why BJD backed out. It reportedly did not want to contest on anything less than 100 of the 147 Assembly seats. But the BJP was fishing for 57 seats.

Both political gladiators could not agree on a power-sharing formula post-election either. The BJP’s plans to field certain rebel BJD leaders in the elections did not go down well in the Naveen camp.

Pandian later thundered that neither Modi nor Patnaik needed an alliance. Then who did?

This caused concern among the ministers, who privately expressed worry regarding Odisha's lacklustre performance in areas such as education, healthcare, and agriculture.

Some believe Odisha was neglected despite the extravagant praise for its world-class sports infrastructure. The absence of a special package designated for Odisha and the failure to award the prestigious Bharat Ratna to Biju Patnaik were two stand-outs.

The first key pushback against Pandian was the transfer of his bureaucrat wife Sujata R Karthikeyan. She was heading the Mission Shakti department. It dealt with rural women self-help groups comprising around 70 lakh members. The BJP called her a "BJD agent."

This group was very important to Naveen. They are known to be the most "organised and loyal" vote bank of the BJD. But even here fissures of discontent were seen.

Besides, the side-lined ministers, who were tagged as “ministers with no name,” worried about anti-incumbency of a 24-year-rule by BJD. No denying Naveen was caught napping.

Like Ronald Reagan said after defeating Jimmy Carter : “It was way past his bedtime.”