When the rumour of a BJP-BJD alliance was rife, the local saffron quarters were expressing extreme discomfort and distress over their prospects as they had felt that BJD days were over and BJP was in already to govern the State run by Naveen Patnaik for nearly two and a half decades. The handful of BJP front-liners made big noise over the upcoming victory for the Lotus team.
It is not untrue that the BJD had lost some credibility by being undemocratic in a way. The party high command did not exist at all. It was run by Naveen with the help of trusted bureaucratic lieutenants which the masses began to disapprove for they were convinced by detractors that Naveen was not fully active in taking critical political decisions. They blamed bureaucrats, particularly VK Pandian, for many of the make-believe autocratic methods of fixing things and party creatures that otherwise posed to be larger than life in many ways. All the same, the truth is that the majority of sane people liked the style because during the times of Congress rule, before BJD had materialised with Naveen as boss, the political entities had brazenly abused power and authority to eat up everything leaving the masses in the lurch. So, Naveen had appeared as a whip of fresh air.
Now, after 24 years, the picture has changed a little, not drastically. Given the age and health condition of Naveen at present, he is more dependent on his bureaucrats for successful delivery of schemes and projects, but never while taking critical decisions. As time rolled by, a few rogues in the fold masquerading as dedicated servants of the people have messed up much of the BJD image and machinery. They are spineless, sycophantic soothsayers that feed the wrong things into the party biggies’ heads only to survive the times and flourish on reaping personal benefits without any compunction. These unscrupulous bootlickers who are only mean ‘Yes guys' have meanwhile earned huge infamy for the otherwise enviable party emboldened methodically by late Pyari Mohan Mohapatra who had to be dismissed under very painful circumstances. The garbage guys whom Pyari had picked and moulded into respectable shapes, hit and stabbed him from behind at the first opportunity. The much-talked-about ‘May 29 episode' did also expose a couple of ‘Brutus-like rogues' who are unfortunately considered good guys today only because of sycophancy. Pyari parted way, tried to hit back but failed due to age and lack of other necessary resources. The BJD had turned a colossus that one could ignore or have dismissed.
Only recently, the BJD lost some credibility mainly for having deployed horribly worthless street players in big places. Similarly headless aides have been chosen to steer the party clear through difficult waters only in vain. Consequently, the once-highly enviable outfit is by now a lesser entity. Bad guys, mostly self-serving liars without quality education or experience, are projected as front-liners. The BJD has lost 20 per cent of its ‘nobility lustre'. Still, not much is lost as yet. Around the election times, the rogues in the fold are being handled well. But it is true the ‘supremo' culture rather than a ‘high command' one has brought the party down a little. Still, the BJD is poised to win and form government with Naveen as a record-breaking Chief Minister, perhaps on the global platform. No regional head of any democracy in the world has the credentials of being the head six times successively with ascending order of popularity.
The BJP-BJD alliance eventually never happened. No one knows for sure who between the two successful parties initiated the move. But an alliance would have been beneficial for both. The ruling BJD would have saved much money, energy and labour. The BJP guys would have won with equal ease. But some BJP bosses wrongly imagined their party to be immensely popular in Odisha now. They would have saved much on multiple fronts, but their fate forced them to err and lose much. They have no ground-level cadres to carry the masses and convince them to vote in their favour. But what they have failed to realise is that on their own they would win 12 to 14 seats at the most as the Odisha people like to have Modi as Prime Minister yet again. They are, however, not fully aware that the BJP has no impressive base in the absence of field-level cadres to move, mould and shake masses to go by their words. Thus, they have no captive votes that would come their way with little or least effort. On this particular score, the BJD has far greater advantage. Whatever be the case, the Naveen fold has fantastic cadres across the nooks and corners of the region that can collect and snatch votes if necessary. They have remained clung to people more intensely for a long time, particularly after the massive victory of 2014.
The local BJP leaders cried ‘foul' over the ‘alliance' proposal and the central decision makers gave in at last.
In the last few months, the BJD has rolled out huge numbers of schemes and programmes for the benefits of the masses that hardly happen elsewhere. The Naveen administration, even if predominantly bureaucratic in nature, does deliver the goods well in good time and extent. The BJP in contrast is known for its arm-twisting techniques. The Modi-Shah duo is enormously adept at getting things achieved at gunpoint. They use indiscriminately the enforcement agencies like the ED, CBI and Income Tax to execute ruthless raids and cause image damage of target characters that in turn affect the prospects of the political parties they belong to.
The BJD is not likely to break records. Rather, there is a bigger likelihood of witnessing a diminished number below 100 seats. Not surprisingly, Prime Minister Modi would be the choice of the people in Odisha. So, split voting would occur for certain. Even the ordinary people of Odisha, without much political interest or affiliation, are keen to bring back Naveen and Modi for they are enamoured by both.
