BJP's Miracle in Odisha's Twin Elections Can Largely Be Attributed to VK Pandian

VK Pandian and Naveen Patnaik. 

(Photo: Naveen Patnaik/Facebook)

The unthinkable happened in Odisha as voters denied the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) a record in Indian politics. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) turned the table on him and successfully stalled the march of over 24 years on the trot.

Though the exit polls, as far as Odisha was concerned,were dismissed as exaggerated, they proved to be right for a change. The massive mandate for the BJP in the twin elections was beyond anyone’s imagination.

It was a clean sweep: 20 out of 21 seats and 78 out of 147 in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Assembly respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi must have been the most pleased person to see the performance of his party in Odisha, a state that added another feather to the BJP's cap in its pursuit of conquering the east. The credit for this feat goes to the well-calibrated campaign and sharpened attack by the battery of BJP heavyweights, including Modi, who ran a sustained onslaught against the "misrule and failure" of the BJD government. The missing keys to the Ratna Bhandar, the treasury of Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri, an issue that has been agitating the minds of Odias for a long time, also touched the emotional chord of the voters.

But, more than all this, the one factor that contributed singularly to the BJP’s success is the role of VK Pandian, the bureaucrat-turned-politician who hijacked Naveen Patnaik's show. The authoritarian manner in which Pandian ran the system for Naveen, both administratively and politically, by not taking the party leaders into confidence, ultimately led to the BJD's downfall.

Be it the distribution of tickets or the selection of candidates, everything was done by Pandian as Naveen preferred to remain a silent spectator like Dhritarastra.

Pandian’s overbearing presence in all spheres, where he did not let Patnaik meet anyone alone to run the campaign, was an eye sore and did not go down well with the voters despite their affection for the BJD supremo. The more he made his presence known as the only one responsible for defending Naveen and the party, the more he was antagonised by the voters.

Political pundits are, therefore, of the opinion that if an astute politician like Patnaik had not let his Man Friday boss over, he would have been set for a record sixth term.

VK Pandian's Overbearing Presence

Therefore, the BJP’s miracle run in the twin elections can largely be attributed to Pandian. Patnaik won with a slender margin from his home turf, Hinjli, and lost miserably in the Kantabanji constituency in western Odisha, a place synonymous with the seasonal migration of people in search of work.

Many of his trusted and senior aides lost the elections as well. The most important lesson one has to learn from this election is not to ever take things for granted, which the BJD did in view of the slew of social measures and freebies it unleashed for the poor. Patnaik and co. failed to see the writings on the wall, and their overconfidence made them pay the price.

The BJP, on the other hand, sensed the discontent among the people who had grown tired of seeing the same face for 24 years and were visibly annoyed by Pandian's behaviour. But it could not exploit the situation earlier, as a tacit political understanding between the BJD and the BJP had bound the hands of the latter, and its cadre was helpless, as admitted by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in one of his pre-election meetings with the state leaders.

Additionally, the discussions of a partnership between the two parties, allegedly started by BJD two months prior to the election, disrupted the BJP's plans. Nonetheless, the BJP leadership swiftly regrouped and managed to challenge the formidable Naveen, ultimately achieving success.

The prophecy of Narendra Modi has come true. He had predicted the "expiry date" of Naveen Patnaik's government to be 4 June and had said that a BJP government would take oath on 10 June in the state. An overconfident Pandian ridiculed the Prime Minister’s assertion and invited him to the swearing-in-ceremony of Naveen Patnaik on 9 June.

Responding to Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s claim that the BJP would form the government in Odisha, Pandian swore to leave politics if it so happened. The time has come for him to act.

Who Will Become the CM?

As the BJP is still in a celebratory mood for its long-cherished victory in Odisha, the toughest job awaits the party: who will it choose as the chief minister to carry forward the tall promises it made to the people of the state in the wake of elections?

Given its not-so-comfortable position at the centre, it can hardly afford to select Dharmendra Pradhan or its national Vice President Baijayant Panda, both of whom were elected to the Lok Sabha, for the coveted post. Manmohan Samal, the party’s state president, who steered the party to victory, has lost the Assembly election.

The choice, therefore, is either Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo, a former minister with an impeccable track record, or the venerable Suresh Pujari, an old war horse of the BJP.

The buzz is that the serving Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Girish Chandra Murmu, is another front-runner for the post — another tribal card about to be played by Modi after President Draupadi Murmu.

(Srimoy Kar is a senior journalist based in Odisha. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)