On May 10, bureaucrat-turned-politician V.K. Pandian asserted that he would quit politics if BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik does not become Odisha chief minister this time. Patnaik has been Odisha CM for the past 24 years, completing five terms in a row.
Three days before the first phase of simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections in the state, Pandian who is a close aide of the outgoing CM had also challenged Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan to take hiatus from politics if BJP fails to form government in Odisha.
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“You say that there is BJP wave and wave for a change in Odisha, but I strongly say that if (Patnaik) does not become the CM again, I will take sanyas from politics,” Pandian said while addressing a rally at Brajrajnagar in Jharsuguda district.
Days before Pandian's challenge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 5 said the BJD government will get expired on June 4 and a BJP chief minister will be sworn in on June 10. Pandian then clapped back at Modi, saying Patnaik will take oath as chief minister a day before on June 9 between 11.30 am and 1.30 pm.
Pandian, a former IAS officer, is largely seen as an outsider in Odisha because of his Tamil background. BJP strongly campaigned against Pandian and told voters to give it a chance to bring back the Odia asmita (pride) to its former glory.
His ill-health is another factor attributed to voters turning towards BJP as the BJD supremo avoided coming to the CM office since the pandemic. Other issues that led to the defeat were anti-incumbency over issues like unemployment, lack of drinking water and poverty.
The intensity of BJD's defeat is so deep that even Patnaik himself lost to BJP's Laxman Bag in Kantabanji, his second seat by more than 16,300 votes. His home turf, Hinjli, saw his winning by a narrow margin of 4,636 votes
With the election results declared in favour of BJP, we have to wait and watch who will be BJP's CM face in Odisha. The saffron party is likely to stick to the June 10 swearing-in date.
And the pertinent question is whether V.K. Pandian will quit politics as asserted publicly. Or was it just a political stunt. We will know soon.
