BHUBANESWAR: After a crushing defeat in Patkura, the obvious question that hits the mind of many in political circles is what lays ahead for Bijay Mohapatra. Will he continue in the BJP and wait for another five years to try his luck or will he chart his own course of action as he did earlier?
The chances of Mohapatra continuing in the saffron party, which he left along with former Union Minister Dilip Ray, a couple of months before announcement of the General Elections and coaxed into the party again at the last moment, is more for the simple reason that he realised his mistake after being denied a re-entry into the BJD.
The BJP not only received him with the same warmth but also gave him a ticket to contest from Patkura when he was in political wilderness. An astute politician, Mohapatra will never forget the way the party extended all possible assistance to fight a prolonged battle which was deferred twice, once due to death of the BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agrawalla and cyclone Fani for the second time.
Even Mohapatra has acknowledged the spirited campaign launched by the BJP workers and senior leaders, including Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, forgetting the bitterness they had after he left the party.
The other reason for which Mohapatra is indebted to the BJP leadership is that his resignation letter, in which the heaped the blame on one powerful leader of the party for taking the decision to quit, was not accepted till he returned to the party. He is still a member of the national executive committee, the powerful decision making body of the BJP.
Destiny has remained very unkind to Mohapatra after his ticket was withdrawn at the last moment by BJD president Naveen Patnaik in 2000. Though his experiment of floating a regional party - Odisha Gana Parishad - brought limited success for the party, he lost the election in Patkura in 2009. His decision to merge regional outfit with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) proved wrong once again.
“Mohapatra has come a long way since 2000. With politics becoming competitive and expensive, the chances of him repeating the same mistake is very less,” said a political observer.
With age on his side, Mohapatra is 68, the fourth electoral defeat in a row has not diminished his fighting spirit. He has accepted his defeat with utmost grace saying this is part of democratic politics. “An indefatigable fighter like Mohapatra is definitely down but not out. You can’t rule him out so early. He still has a long way to go,” said senior BJP leader and former minister KV Singhdeo.
With the organisational election of the BJP round the corner, many in the party favoured him to the post of president for his organisational skill and pan-Odisha presence.