BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal, 18 years in power on the trot, finally managed to wrest the high profile Bijepur Assembly seat after 14 years of struggle on Wednesday. The regional outfit did it with an overwhelming mandate, turning party supremo Naveen Patnaik’s prediction of a “handsome margin” to some sort of prophecy.
Ending a month-long high voltage campaigning, in which the narrative took ugly turns, BJD candidate Ritarani Sahu defeated her rival Ashok Panigrahi of BJP by a margin of 41,932 votes. The Congress, which held the constituency for three consecutive terms since 2004, finished a distant third with its candidate Pranaya Sahu losing the deposit. Ritarani polled a staggering 1,02,871 votes, while BJP candidate Ashok got 60,939 votes. Pranaya could get only 10,274 votes raising serious questions about the fate of the grand old party in Odisha.
Though the contest for the by-poll was expected to be triangular, it almost remained one-sided as Ritarani started with a lead of considerable margin when counting began on the day. The difference only got bigger as the day progressed.
More than the win, the margin of BJD’s victory has once again proved that Naveen still remains the most popular politician in Odisha even after 18 years in power. That his charisma is still unmatched by any other politician was evident from the way in which the party turned around the disadvantageous position after the Zilla Parishad polls last year to inflict a crushing defeat on the rivals.
Though allegations of abuse of State machinery, money power and transfer of Congress votes to BJD’s kitty came in thick and fast from the rivals, the regional party’s stunning victory was based on months of meticulous planning and strategy. The party mobilised its ministers and leaders who camped in the constituency for the last four months much before BJP and Congress could even give a thought to the by-poll.
Naveen also played his trump card by announcing Ritarani, wife of Congress MLA Subal Sahu whose death necessitated the by-poll, as the BJD candidate after she joined the party. Ritarani’s door-to-door campaign when other party leaders were busy in election management ensured the support of women voters for the ruling outfit. While the well-prepared organisational machinery of the regional outfit worked, an over-confident BJP and a spate of violence just before the polls targeting BJD politicians, including the Chief Minister, also contributed to the regional outfit’s win with a record margin.
Edit: Naveen still the boss of Odisha
The two-day campaign of Naveen, during which a shoe was hurled at him, was a stark contrast to the BJP leaders whose campaign style was mostly aggressive and negative. Political observers maintained that the Chief Minister’s style of campaign, which was mostly based on development agenda without any reference to the rivals, won the hearts of the voters. Though BJP’s position improved considerably in the constituency, it was at a loss to find out how the party’s gain after the Zilla Parishad polls was frittered away. The BJP had garnered 91,688 votes from all the ZP zones in Bijepur in the last year’s panchayat polls. In the by-poll, the votes have come down to 60,938 votes, a loss of 30,750 votes.