Less than an hour after the BJP released its list of five Rajya Sabha candidates, the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD came out in support of the saffron party’s Odisha pick Ashwini Vaishnaw.
“The Biju Janata Dal will support the candidature of Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister Railways , Communication and Information Technology for the larger interest of the State’s Railways and Telecom Development in the coming election to Rajya Sabha 2024,” the party said. This is the second time that Vaishnaw will get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha as a BJP candidate with the support of the BJD.
The BJD’s move is not entirely unexpected as it had named just two RS candidates — Debashish Samantray and Subhashish Khuntia — on February 12 instead of three for as many vacancies.
Considering that Odisha goes for simulations polls, which are just a couple of months away, there was a chance that the BJD may nominate its own candidate to scorch the Congress’s charge regarding the visible proximity between the ruling party and the main opposition in Odisha. Though not entirely convincing, the BJD has said it is supporting Vaishnaw “for the larger interest of the state’s Railways and Telecom Development”.
In the Rajya Sabha , where the NDA did not have the numbers, it was Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who consistently supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi on all contentious legislations — from abrogation of Article 370; Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019; and the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, among others.
Way back in 1998, Patnaik was a minister in late prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet. The Odisha chief minister enjoys a cordial relationship with PM Modi. In fact, at a rally in Sambalpur in the beginning of this month, PM Modi referred to Patnaik as ‘my friend’.
Reacting to BJD’s support for Vaishnaw, Odisha PCC president Sarat Patnaik posted on X: The unholy nexus between @bjd_odisha & @BJP4India stands exposed as BJD supports BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate. Odisha deserves better than this backroom deal. Congress is the only true alternative committed to the state’s progress and people’s welfare. #VoteCongress.”
He added: “ODISHA BETRAYED @bjd_odisha backing @BJP4India’s RS candidate lays bare their secret pact. It is time for Odisha to reject this connivance and embrace the real voice of change -Congress. Let’s put an end to this political opportunism and usher in genuine development.”
The Congress party, under the leadership of newly appointed Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar, recently held a demonstration in Bhubaneshwar christening the BJD-BJP relationship as a “live-in” and then rechristening the same as a “marriage” with duly conducted ceremonies.
Odisha Congress leader Bijay Patnaik told News18: “Everyone knows that BJD-BJP cohabit. For some weeks, both BJD and BJP were attacking each other. Now it is proved that it was a false fight. They both had an understanding before and the same will continue in the future. It is only to mislead the people that they were claiming that they were each other’s adversary and would compete against the other. It remains to be seen how the two work out a seat-sharing arrangement. People now know that BJD and BJP are together, there is no doubt about that.”
Patnaik added that the indication was “very good” for the Congress as people in Odisha are now looking for an alternative to the BJD. “Those who were looking at the BJP as the alternative to the BJD now realise that BJP is not the alternative to the BJD and voting for the BJP would mean voting for the BJD. So, Congress is the only political alternative to the BJD for the people of Odisha,” he said.
Though the opposition space is up for grabs, given the growing proximity between the two parties, is a weakened Congress with just nine MLAs and one MP up to the task?
Responding to the question, Patnaik said: “Recently, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge came to Odisha and held a public meeting in Bhubaneswar which saw huge attendance of people. Similarly, when Rahul Gandhi passed through Odisha in his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, thousands of people spontaneously joined in, met him, and spoke to him. Therefore, we can see that there is great attraction for the Congress in the minds of the people. Whatever may have been the result in 2019, in 2024 all that is set to change.”
When asked about the BJD’s compulsions to sacrifice an RS seat for BJP, he said: “It is amply clear that BJD is under tremendous pressure from BJP. They have some ‘amogha astra’ which, if they use, will completely destroy BJD. That is why they are working on BJP’s directions.”
In 2014 assembly elections in Odisha, BJD swept the polls with 117 seats, Congress stood in the second position with merely 16 seats and the BJP was in the third position winning just 10 of the 147 assembly seats. BJD won a staggering 43.9 per cent of the votes, Congress got 26 per cent and the BJP won 18.2 per cent.
In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJD again swept the elections, winning 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha constituencies. The BJP was a distant second, winning just one, while Congress could not open its account. The BJD’s vote share in this was 44.10 per cent while BJP got 21.50 per cent. The Congress’s vote share was 26 per cent, though it did not win a seat.
Now, take a look at Odisha’s results for 2019 — five years later amidst the Modi wave. The BJD, contesting for the fifth time under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, swept the assembly polls, winning 112 of the 147 assembly constituencies. The BJP pushed the Congress to the number three position, winning 23 seats. The Congress did not cross double digits, winning only nine assembly constituencies. The rest won just two constituencies. The BJD’s vote share went up from 43.9 per cent to 45.2 per cent. The BJP’s vote share saw a remarkable spike from 18.2 per cent to 32.8 per cent. The Congress’s vote share dropped from 26 per cent to 16.3 per cent. The BJP’s growth had come at the expense of the Congress party which once ruled Odisha.
The results for the 21 parliamentary constituencies speak of BJP’s solid gains. While the BJD came down to 12 from 20, the BJP shot up to eight from one. Congress opened its account, winning the Koraput seat. The BJD won 43.3 per cent of vote share, down from 45.2 per cent. The BJP won 38.9 per cent of vote share, up from 21.50 per cent in 2014. The difference between the BJD and the BJP’s vote share was less than five per cent. In 2014, the difference in the vote share between the two was an impressive 22 per cent, with BJD leading. The Congress won one seat and 14 per cent vote share — down from 26 per cent in 2014.
With the 2024 general elections on its heels, the BJD will find it difficult to project itself as the political opponent of the BJP, while the Congress will have to work hard to regain lost ground. The BJP, seen to be riding on the back of the BJD’s support, has its task cut out — how to portray itself as the political alternative to the BJD?
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