Naveen’s support for NDA’s Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu puts Odisha BJP in a bind
BHUBANESWAR: The BJD has taken the wind out of the sails of the BJP’s State unit by going the whole hog and extending its support to the NDA nominated Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announcing his party’s support to Murmu even before receiving a formal request from the NDA government or its Presidential candidate has once again proved his political astuteness, killing two birds with one stone - keeping his party’s friendly disposition to the BJP at Centre and shutting the voice of the principal Opposition in the State.
While conveying the message to the people of the State in general and the tribal constituents in particular that the guiding principle of the BJD is ‘State first and party next’, the Chief Minister has successfully cornered his share of goodwill from the tribal communities which constitute around 23 per cent of Odisha’s population.
Patnaik is the first Chief Minister in the country who even went the extra mile to seek support from a traditional political rival like Congress despite pronouncements by senior leaders of the grand old party that they will toe the party line and vote for Opposition-sponsored nominee Yashwant Sinha.
The State BJP which has been engaged in a shadow fight with the BJD for so long has been left in a quandary. “The Chief Minister by extending his party’s support to Murmu has turned the tables on the state BJP. The periodical murmurs of the party against the ruling BJD will have little impact as the message has gone louder to the people,” admitted a senior leader of the party.
‘The BJD support to Murmu, no doubt, is for the larger interest of the BJP at the national level. The party will reap the benefits in the coming elections in other states once Murmu is elected as President of India, but it will bring no reward for the State BJP when its popularity is on the wane,’ the sources added.
Reacting to the comment of a party MP that the BJD’s support of the Murmu was a political compulsion, another BJP leader said he was surprised to see the poor reading of the situation. Perception matters a lot in politics, he added.
“The Chief Minister has astutely turned a disadvantageous situation into an opportunity, while in a similar situation his counterparts in other states are in a fix. States ruled by regional parties and partners of Opposition camp are now contemplating to switch sides and vote for Murmu else it will prove detrimental for them,” the BJP leader said.