Viability of anti-Naveen front under doubt

Expulsion of former minister Damodar Rout from BJD has added to such talks and some of the old Biju loyalists are reported to be in touch with each other.

BHUBANESWAR:Even as formation of a political entity comprising leaders who have worked with former chief minister Biju Patnaik in the past is doing the rounds, viability of such an outfit months before next elections is being questioned.

Expulsion of former minister Damodar Rout from BJD has added to such talks and some of the old Biju loyalists are reported to be in touch with each other. Former ministers Panchanan Kanungo and Ramakrushna Patnaik have also come out openly in favour of such an outfit. However, none of these leaders have taken any step in this regard to make such a possibility a reality.

The more crucial point is who will head the outfit. All the former BJD leaders like Baijayant Panda, Bijay Mohapatra, Dillip Ray, Braja Kishore Tripathy and Prafulla Chandra Ghadei will not remain under the leadership of any other person and would want to lead an organisation on their own. Besides, many of these leaders have remained away from front line politics for a long time now and cannot claim to have the popularity and base to challenge Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Except Ray, the rest leaders of the group are from coastal Odisha where the BJD has a strong base. The BJD won 68 out of 77 Assembly seats from coastal Odisha in 2014 elections. Though several attempts have been made to make a dent in the base of BJD in the area, the hold of Chief Minister remains strong.
Meanwhile, Rout is getting ready to move around Odisha from next month to campaign against corruption in the Naveen Patnaik Government. Rout has already raised several allegations, including scams in purchase of saplings, polythene to make OMFED packets and irregularities in cooperative bank loans.

The BJP has already demanded a CBI probe into the allegations while the Opposition Congress has demanded a reply from the Chief Minister on these issues. However, the Chief Minister has not taken the allegations seriously and has dismissed those as ‘ridiculous’.

All eyes are on the workers’ conference to be addressed by Rout at Kujang after a couple of days. The senior leader is also likely to decide his future course of action open after the Kujang rally.