BHUBANESWAR: As the process for formation of new ministry gathers momentum and hectic lobbying starts, the Biju Janata Dal leadership - despite having secured another stupendous victory defying all trends - appears to be in no mood to mollycoddle poor performers. In fact, it might just send across a stern message to those who put their individual interests above that of the party.
The starting point, sources said, would be the loss of the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat by BJD and the party’s not so impressive performance in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s home district Ganjam. Informed sources in the regional outfit maintained that both these factors will have a great bearing on the district wise representation in the new Cabinet.
The fact that BJD won six out the seven Assembly segments in Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency but party’s nominee Arup Patnaik was defeated by a margin of 23,839 votes to BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi is being viewed seriously by the supremo. What rankles the BJD leadership is that in all the three city Assembly segments - Ekamra, Central and North - candidates of the regional outfit won with comfortable margins, but the Lok Sabha candidate polled less votes giving the BJP rival a lead.
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Of the three Assembly segments, performance of the Lok Sabha candidate in two key constituencies, Ekamra and Central, have started a churning in the regional outfit. Sources maintained that Arup Patnaik has lodged a complaint with party supremo with evidence that there was sabotage in these two segments leading to his defeat.
If statistics from the two segments are considered, in Ekamra segment BJD candidate and former Minister Ashok Panda polled 75,020 votes compared to 56,747 by the Lok Sabha candidate. The loss of 19,000 votes hurt the former Mumbai Police Commissioner.
Similarly, in the central segment, BJD nominee Ananta Narayan Jena polled 54,022 votes compared to 43,225 by the Lok Sabha candidate. The BJP Lok Sabha candidate was able take a lead of over 30,000 votes from both these segments alone.
Sources maintained that Khurda district may not get any representation in the new ministry because of this reason alone. A formal inquiry by the party leadership is likely to be conducted after the swearing-in ceremony to fix responsibility for the regional outfit’s debacle in the Capital Lok Sabha seat.
Similarly, the performance of BJD in the home district of Ganjam has worried the party supremo. Particularly, performance of the party in three constituencies including Gopalpur has come under scanner.
Former minister Pradip Panigrahi, who was appointed as the president of BJD’s Ganjam unit and observer for Gajapati, won with a slender margin of 2,673 votes.
In Parlakhemundi, the BJD candidate was relegated to the third position while in Sanakhemundi, Ramesh Jena of Congress won by a margin of 23,727 votes against Nandini Devi of BJD.
BJD candidates won both Berhampur and Aska Lok Sabha seats. However, the margin of victory of both the BJD Lok Sabha candidates has come down substantially. The BJP, which had practically no presence in Berhampur and Aska parliamentary constituencies, has now a vote share of 35.26 per cent and 34.33 per cent respectively.
Since the party leadership banked on its observers while handing out tickets before the elections, sources said, their performances elsewhere in the State are also being reviewed.