BHUBANESWAR: The defeat of Dr Datteswar Hota following cross-voting by at least 11 MLAs from the Opposition political parties has come as a huge setback for the BJD, which is grappling with large-scale defections from its ranks after the 2024 poll debacle.
Cross-voting by such a large number of BJD MLAs, eight including the two suspended legislators, seems to be a manifestation of deepening crisis in the party indicating further erosion of unity and BJP’s growing hold in the state politics. Significantly, the cross-voting has come despite frantic efforts made by BJD president Naveen Patnaik to keep the flock together.
Besides issuing a three-line whip to party legislators, Naveen had also asked them to attend meetings at Naveen Niwas for three days beginning March 13 to defeat poaching attempts by the rival BJP camp. Sources said that many of the MLAs spent their night at the Naveen Niwas on Sunday.
But the forced show of unity by the leadership could not suppress the discontentment among the party MLAs as was evident by the statements of several legislators including Souvic Biswal and Debi Ranjan Tripathy.
Besides reflecting personal grudge against the leadership for the humiliation of their fathers who had been expelled from BJD at different times, the two MLAs also opposed the alliance with the Congress to win the fourth seat.
The open criticism of the BJD supremo’s decision by so many MLAs also points to the reducing clout of Naveen who till sometime back remained the final authority on party’s policy matters. After this election, the BJD numbers in the Rajya Sabha has gone down from seven to six.
It remains to be seen what action the party chief will take against the MLAs who defied the whip and went against the party line, leading to the defeat of BJD’s second candidate Dr Hota.