BJP’s Odisha ambition and ground reality
Amit Shah does not mince words. He often means what he says. When the man credited with BJP’s successive historic electoral mandates asserted that the saffron party will form the next government in Odisha, the claim was bound to generate waves. At a book launch event in Bhubaneswar, the Union home minister said BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership has shed its “Hindi heartland party” tag having spread its footprints in 19 states. He predicted another victory for his party in the 2024 general elections and BJP’s ascent to power in Odisha. BJD was quick to term it a “day dream”.
In the run-up to the 2019 elections, Shah had set his party an ambitious Mission 120 for Odisha. BJP managed to improve its tally to 22 seats in the State Assembly but took a huge stride by winning eight Lok Sabha constituencies. However, its electoral fortunes have dwindled ever since. Against a deeply-entrenched BJD, the saffron party has floundered at every challenge—handed heavy defeats in both panchayat and municipal polls and lost all four Assembly by-elections. A strong organisational base notwithstanding, internal wrangle, absence of a chief ministerial candidate and lack of direction from the Central leadership have not helped matters.
BJD, for its part, has struck a fine balance between its poll strategy and relationship with BJP. In fact, it has proved to be more than a “friend in need”, standing by NDA in all major national issues like CAA and Article 370. Wholehearted support for Droupadi Murmu’s nomination as President seemed a natural choice but the regional outfit was the first to throw its weight behind Jagdeep Dhankhar as vice president too. Will BJP upset the applecart by going full throttle against BJD? Seems unlikely. In the emerging scenario of Nitish Kumar ditching it in Bihar, the party stands without an ally in the eastern front. And with a staggering solo march election after election, BJD had long gone out of BJP’s Look East radar and does not figure in its Mission South. As things stand, Shah’s assertion appears to be sweet talk for his partymen in Odisha.