BHUBANESWAR: Ahead of the panchayat and urban body polls expected to be conducted within the next two to three months, the ruling BJD is faced with the huge challenge of reactivating its party organisation which has almost become dormant in the last two years of Covid pandemic.
While virtual meetings are going on at every level in view of the polls, the party is yet to hold any strategy session to decide on the issues to be taken up before the people.
Though the Covid-19 pandemic was on wane during the last five to six months, the party’s leadership allegedly did not encourage any interaction at any level of the organisation during the time.
A senior leader of the party requesting anonymity said that in the pre-Covid-19 days, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik used to meet party leaders from every level at Naveen Niwas on certain days of the week.
“Leaders used to raise important issues before the Chief Minister in these meetings,” he said.
However, such meetings have ceased completely and the Chief Minister, who is also the party president, is no longer accessible to any leader except a few. Nowadays leaders only carry out instructions received from the top.
There is a feeling among the leaders that there is lack of any communication in the party which has affected its functioning. Even Ministers, MPs and MLAs no longer interact with the Chief Minister.
The party supremo started going out and visited several temples and districts when the second wave of the pandemic was receding.
He, however, faced opposition criticism for not attending the winter session of the Assembly though he launched the distribution of Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) in several districts.
Sources however said general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das has already visited all the districts to guide the leaders about the issues to be taken up ahead of the elections.