Nearly four months after the BJD’s rout in the Assembly as well as the Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, the party supremo and ex-chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, has started taking stock of the party affairs at the district level, with “poor poll management” being cited among the main reasons for its debacle by party leaders.
A video from one of these meetings involving the review of the BJD’s Nabarangpur district unit recently emerged in which senior leader Pradeep Majhi, who lost from the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat, underlined three reasons for the party’s loss. “Due to propaganda of alliance (with BJP ahead of polls), we have lost our credibility among the minorities, and in Nabarangpur district the whole Christian community vote bank was washed away,” he said.
Patnaik intensified his interactions with the BJD leaders from districts over the last two months after two of his Rajya Sabha MPs, Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar, crossed over to the BJP. (Express photo)
Pradeep also listed “internal sabotage” and “zero poll management” as other reasons for the party’s rout.
Patnaik was seen in the video giving a patient hearing to Majhi and nodding to his concerns. He also asked the party leaders to remain united and continue to fight the Mohan Charan Majhi-led BJP government over various issues.
BJD veteran Badrinarayan Patra later told reporters, “Naveen babu (Patnaik) didn’t campaign enough and didn’t devote time (for the polls)… We couldn’t perform well because of this reason. If he (Patnaik) starts touring districts, there would be a high chance of revival of our organisation,” said Patra, the six-time MLA from Ghasipura in Keonjhar district.
Patnaik has already held the review meetings of over half of the total 30 district party units, discussing with them the party’s functioning and its future roadmap, during which a slew of leaders expressed “dissatisfaction” over the way it fought the elections, said sources.
Patnaik, 77, who earlier used to work from his residence Naveen Niwas, has now started operating from the party headquarters Sankha Bhawan, holding review meetings there, one after another, with the party leaders from different districts.
During these interactions, several BJD leaders have “obliquely blamed Patnaik’s former private secretary V K Pandian and his erstwhile group including former party organizational secretary Pranab Prakash Das and Rajya Sabha MP Manas Mangaraj”, said a party leader.
While Patnaik met both the victors and defeated candidates separately days after the election results, urging them to continue their “good work”, there was a growing chorus within the party for a review of election results and for “course correction” measures. There was also demand from a party section for action against those responsible for its defeat.
On July 7, Patnaik dissolved all state party committees and appointed former corporate leader Santrupt Misra as his political secretary. In August, he constituted a 15-member BJD panel headed by senior leader Debiprasad Mishra to coordinate party activities across the state.
Patnaik intensified his interactions with the BJD leaders from districts over the last two months after two of his Rajya Sabha MPs, Mamata Mohanta and Sujeet Kumar, crossed over to the BJP. There were also reports of the panchayat- level leaders switching to the BJP.
“BJD still has a vast organisation and got more votes (but fewer seats) than BJP in the 2024 Assembly polls. The only party concern is to keep up the organisation work. If there would not be party activities and the leadership sits idle, it may cost us as many other leaders may also quit in future,” said a BJD insider.
While Patnaik has not groomed anyone as his political heir, Pandian was seen as his successor after he formally joined the BJD last November and played a key role in formulating its strategies and running its campaign for the polls.
After the BJD’s poll defeats, Pandian announced his withdrawal from active politics while other leaders close to him have been sidelined.
“There is no need for a second-in-command in the party now to look after its day-to-day activities as Naveen babu himself has assured leaders during review meetings that he would always remain with us,” said the party insider.
On Wednesday, Patnaik constituted three more committees comprising many second-rung leaders, who were marginalised in the party following Pandian’s rise after the 2019 polls.
“All the three committees will assist the coordination panel,” said a statement made by the BJD chief. These include an advisory committee comprising party veterans with Prasanna Acharya as its convener, a party membership committee under ex-minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, and a programme implementation committee headed by Sanjay Das Burma.
Debiprasad Mishra said Patnaik has convened a meeting of the party brass Friday to discuss various BJD programmes to be held in the coming days, including its annual padyatra from Gandhi Jayanti, its membership drive, and the organisational polls. Patnaik is also likely to embark on visits to different districts across the state as part of his plan to revive the organisation.
The simultaneous polls saw the BJP storming to power by clinching the Assembly polls, ending the Patnaik-led party’s five-term reign. In the elections to the 147-member Assembly, the BJP won 78 seats as against the BJD’s 51. In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 20 seats out of 21 in the state, while the BJD failed to even open its account, which marked a first for the party since its formation in 1997.
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