The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Odisha poll card: BJD’s campaign centred on Naveen Patnaik

    Synopsis

    Traveling in an air-conditioned bus, Patnaik emerges from the roof to address hundreds of people lining the streets.

    naveen-patnaik-agenciesAgencies
    The 2019 election campaign is challenging the four-time chief minister in ways no one had thought it would.
    Naveen Patnaik’s team has released yet another video on social media. It shows the 72-year-old chief minister, clad uncharacteristically in a t-shirt and slacks, hanging out with four youth and talking about Rs 10,000 crore that the Centre owes Odisha.

    This comes after a video of Patnaik working out, which was followed up with the chief minister telling a national TV channel who he thought was to blame for conspiracy theories concerning his health. Again, not quite like the notoriously reserved CM who, one is told, believes in revenge being best served cold.

    The 2019 election campaign is challenging the four-time chief minister in ways no one had thought it would. BJD’s star campaigner is doing roadshows across the state this time. Traveling in an air-conditioned bus, Patnaik emerges from the roof to address hundreds of people lining the streets.

    Ministers and MLAs have been restricted to their respective constituencies. It is Patnaik, and him alone, that the party’s campaign is centred on. While it is fighting polls around the country, BJP has taken advantage of the four-phased schedule in Odisha to rain down its star campaigners including Modi, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, Rajnath Singh and Uma Bharati to court voters.

    Some observers said the clip that has served Patnaik best is the one showing his chopper being searched by a flying squad of the Election Commission. Patnaik offered full cooperation for the search, while a similar search attempt on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chopper led to the suspension of an IAS officer from poll duty. This earned the Odisha chief minister praise from several quarters.

    Former chief election commissioner SY Quraishi tweeted that while the PM and ECI missed an opportunity to restore the image of the commission, “in contrast, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, because of his extremely dignified conduct during a similar raid on his chopper, in front of his eyes, has come out with his image enhanced”.

    Generation Shift in Royal Families
    There is a generational shift happening in rural Odisha that the urbane princesses of erstwhile royal families on campaign trail greatly appreciate. Young villagers are less in awe of them. “While the elders still want wash our feet, etc., sticking to tradition, the younger generation will come up to you and demand to know what you have done for them,” said one royal family wife seeking votes for her husband. “It is nice to see this confident, self-aware young voter.”

    The Better Halves
    Turning up in summery saris to campaign door to door for twelve hours sometimes in the humid, scorching summer is not easy, but wives of several politicians are doing it quite well. The wife of a BJD minister told ET that she loved the suspense and craziness of fighting an election. “For every block he has a programme in, I have to visit the other five to make sure no one feels ignored,” said the political science graduate who requested not to be identified.

    Considering the party’s commitment to reserving 33% seats for women, did she think her daughter studying in a London university could choose politics for a career? “That depends on her husband, I suppose,” she says.

    No Chief Ministerial Face
    BJP expects Odisha to deliver a Tripura; it is fighting the elections without projecting a chief minister. “The people of Odisha want to know who is BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, and from where is he or she contesting the elections?” Patnaik asked in a rally.

    The CM’s comment is perceived as a dig at Union minister of petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan who last contested an election in 2009, from the Pallahara constituency of Angul. A Rajya Sabha member from Bihar, Pradhan has been leading an unrelenting, aggressive BJP campaign. Pradhan, however, is not contesting either for an assembly seat or a Lok Sabha constituency.

    BJP state unit is heavier now with several former BJD leaders, including Damodar Rout and Baijayant Panda, and people like Kharabela Swain and Bijoy Mohapatra who had quit the party only to rejoin just before the polls.

    For months before they joined BJP, these men discussed the possibility of forming a new regional party in the state, according to Swain, a three-time BJP MP who is contesting from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency. “The problem was, each one of them (except himself) wanted to be the leader, each one wanted to be CM one day,” he said.


    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more

    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in