Shah infuses ideas to strengthen party in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Aug 10(Reporters Today Bureau): A lot of hype was created by the Odisha Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the visit of Union Home Minister Amit Shah for a day to Odisha. For nearly 15 days Union Education & Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was preparing the plan to make the visit memorable. As a result when Shah visited, the state BJP was nearly geared up. From Biju Patnaik International Airport to Cuttack and back to the airport here party cadre was present every time, though a fissure in the party was apparent. The photograph of only Aparajita Sarangi—Bhubaneswar MP—dotted the city landscape with those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah. This riddle has not been solved even after 36 hours of Shah’s return to the national capital.

The fissure was also visible when two groups in the BJP also clashed at the airport before greeting Shah on his arrival–a sight that speaks volumes about the internal matters of the party.

However, it was evident from the visit that the saffron party is keen on strengthening its position to whatever extent is possible.

The most important aspect is the silence of Shah at the Prajatantra Prachar Samiti function dais, where Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was also present, on Biju Patnaik. Shah, unlike several previous occasions, did not mention legendary Biju Patnaik even once. This might have shocked the Biju Janata Dal , which is named after the legendary leader and led by none other than his son Naveen Patnaik for the past 25 years leading to uninterrupted victories in election and forming subsequent governments.           The BJD in true sense was always ahead of the BJP in the state all these years. But Shah repeatedly spoke about the contribution of Harekrushna Mahtab to Odisha at the meeting and never mentioned about Biju Babu. This was something unusual and triggered speculations on possible political realignments in the State. These speculations were triggered when Shah was invited for the Prajatantra Prachar Samiti diamond jubilee function by Bhartruhari Mahtab, who is believed to have fallen from Naveen’s grace and hence hobnobbing with the BJP before the 2024 elections.

During 2019 the grapevine was abuzz that Mahtab may not be fielded by the party also. But those speculation were there for Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Tathagata Satapathy—all BJD leaders and critical of the BJD government. Interesting the party had scotched these speculations fielding Mahtab for the Lok Sabha and Patnaik for the Assembly elections while Tathagata had opted out of electoral politics.

It was also interesting to witness sloganeering during the presence of the Union Home Minister and Chief Minister on the dais. Both BJD and BJP workers raised slogans for their respective leaders and Pradhan had to intervene and ask the workers to desist from it.

At party headquarters, Shah is understood to have advised the core committee members to capitalize on the ‘resentment’ of a section of the BJD workers and leaders and intensify programmes on the state government’s ‘inadequacies.’ If this is true then one can infer that the BJP is in a mood go to 2024 elections more aggressively to win more seats.

At the Modi @20 book reading function, the speech of Shah was more specific. His assertion that the BJP will form the government in the State also made many in BJD jittery. However, Shah did not specify any timeline—whether 2024 or later. This has forced political analysts to conclude that the BJD may not face that strong a BJP to threaten their chances during 2024 and the BJP might be considering a situation where the BJD gets embroiled in issues concerning the people and their interests.

The assertion of Shah that Prime Minister Narendra Modi attaches more importance to Odisha and has appointed people from state in key positions could well be an indication that an attempt is being made by the saffron party to win over the heart of the Odisha electorate in 2024 as much as possible.