With the removal Damodar Rout from Biju Janata Dal, the party supremo Naveen PatnaiK has scripted yet another twist into Odisha politics.
The removal of Damodar Rout was certainly expected keeping in mind his bitter outburst against the functioning of the BJD. Damodar Rout has gone to the extend of criticising the BJD supreme functioning under the misguidance of a coterie comprising of few bureaucrats and party leaders.
In the last two decades of assuming of power,Naveen has not spared anyone who has gone against his leadership. Be it Bijaya Mohapatra, Dillip Ray, Nalini Mohanty or Prafulla Ghadai, Naveen has shown his political astuteness while dealing with the challengers from his own party.
Noted journalist Rubén Banerjee s latest book on Naveen Patnaik mentions about Naveen Patanaik’s political maturity. Rubén Banerjee writes,” Whatever his achievements or failings,it can not be denied that Naveen has scripted a spectacular success story.
Having had nothing to do with politics. For the first fifty years of his life,he transformed himself into a consummate politicians once he decided to take a plunge”.(page 10).
Naveen has been at the helm of affairs of Odisha politics and administration for nearly two decades.His own party has witnessed many political upheavals. the most dramatic was the rebel by his trusted aide Pyari Mohan Mahapatra.
Naveen, though was outside India, successfully decimated the rebel. in case of Damodar Rout, Naveen has been engaging him with ‘carrot and stick’ policy. However, with the removal of Damodar Rout, a new political wrangling has taken off with much intensity in a politically sensitive year.
Before that the removal of Baijayant Panda from BJD has created a political stir in Odisha apolitical.As Naveen is going to face the electorate within a span of year his political moves bear important political ramifications.
The political condition in Odisha is now completely polarised with a strong rooting of BJD, and the gradual weakening of political opponents.
In this context, the political options before the expelled leaders are contingent upon their ability in striking political connection with electorates in the hinterland of Odisha.In the previous experiments by all expelled leaders of BJD has not earned any sustained popular support.
At this juncture, pursuing and fulfilling Biju Patnaik’s dreams has become a weapon in the hands of both groups.Damodar Rout’s championing the legacy of Biju Patnaik will offer him some yet limited political fuel. The reason is that Naveen has renewed the same theme as his political strategy when the BJD celebrated the centenary of the patriarch in 2016-17.
At the same time, Naveen has launched many development schemes named after Biju Patnaik.So , a calibrated political attack on Naveen Patnaik will be on low burner and the future political battle will be played on exploiting the issue of ‘pursuing and fulfilling Biju Patnaik’s dreams’.
This will be the new narrative of Odisha politics before the run-up to upcoming elections.