Odisha has emerged as a bright spot for the BJP, with the trends showing the party cruising past the halfway mark. If the trend sustains, the BJP will form its first-ever government in the state, ending Chief Minister Navin Patnaik’s dream of becoming the longest-ever serving chief minister.
The coastal state witnessed a fierce battle as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a frontal attack on his friend, Naveen Patnaik, questioning the latter’s ability to rule the state due to his failing health. The BJP’s promise of double engine worked wonders in the state as BJP by 3 pm was showing leading in 77 out of the 147 seats, crossing the halfway mark. It was set to emerge as the single largest party in the assembly.
The double whammy for Patnaik continued as BJD was decimated in the Lok Sabha polls too as BJP was leading in 19 seats out of 21, with one each in favour of BJD and Congress.
This mandate comes with multiple messages, the primary being the politics of the state dominated by Naveen Patnaik. The BJP’s campaign was centred around targetting Patnaik’s aide, former IAS officer, V K Pandian, who was said to be the political heir. As Pandian belonged to Tamil Nadu, BJP turned his ethnicity coupled with Naveen’s "falling health" key issues to gain entry into the minds of Odias.
As the biggest gain is coming to the BJP from Odisha, it is offsetting the major decline in the Hindi heartland states of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. This means if the NDA goes on to form the government, the state would get a major share in the centre.
Interestingly, if the results of Odisha are read along with Andhra Pradesh which also had simultaneous elections to the assembly, the voters have voted out the incumbent governments. In Andhra Pradesh, TDP-BJP-JSP stormed to power defeating Jagan Reddy’s five-year government.
Naveen Patnaik’s perceived closeness to the BJP as he supported the NDA government in the last 10 years, appears to have cost the party dearly.
