Loads of challenges await new president of Odisha BJP

With smooth election and the appointment of a new state president in Odisha, the BJP has not only stolen a march over its Opposition rival Congress,
Odisha BJP chief Samir Mohanty
Odisha BJP chief Samir Mohanty

With smooth election and the appointment of a new state president in Odisha, the BJP has not only stolen a march over its Opposition rival Congress, which continues to sink deeper in self-destruction mode, but also shown the intent of not letting anything down for its “frenemy” BJD.

Samir Mohanty, the BJP’s new state chief, is a senior leader and popular across the board. He is the first president from coastal Odisha after a gap of 14 years. The party unit has presented a united front to choose an organisation man with a clean image for the job. Mohanty has his work cut out for him, as he will have to lead the charge for 2024. There will be multiple tests before that, the immediate being the urban local body (ULB) polls later this year. The BJP is aware that if it wants to be the real contender in 2024, it must start with a good performance in the ULB elections. 

Next up is the panchayat elections in 2022. It was in 2017 rural polls that the BJP made an unexpected surge by reaching the second spot and raising its tally by over 800%. That gain instilled self-belief in the party that it could upset the BJD in the 2019 state polls. It had even coined an ambitious ‘Mission 120’ slogan but then ran into the gigantic poll machine that Naveen Patnaik’s BJD was and the rest is history.
Mohanty has to shore up the BJP’s fortunes in the coastal pockets. In the 2019 elections, just five out of its 23 Assembly seats came from coastal Odisha, and they were confined to just three districts. In the rest, including Cuttack which was once a fort, the party drew a blank.

The lack of performance in coastal and south Odisha has goaded the party higher-ups to change strategy and focus on regions where it had done well in the erstwhile alliance with the BJD while also strengthening its base in the districts. In the Northern and Western districts, too, which used to be BJP strongholds, the performance was disappointing. In fact, there were Parliamentary constituencies like Bargarh where the BJP won the Lok Sabha seat but lost all its Assembly segments to the BJD. In short, consolidation will be a long and arduous road ahead.

For Mohanty, though, an even tougher task would be to pitchfork the BJP as the main challenger to the BJD, where equations have completely changed after the 2019 general elections. Balancing the perception of a fierce opponent at the state-level and the ‘all-weather’ friend at the Centre is the key. There is a serious confusion among the people over the “relationship status” between the two parties, which will stymie efforts to position the BJP as the main rival of the BJD. The performance of the state unit in taking on the ruling party both in the Assembly and on the ground ever since Naveen began a fresh innings, has been dismal. With the Congress cowering in its own muck and the BJP struggling to explain its stance to the people, there is virtually no Opposition in Odisha. It is Naveen Patnaik all the way.

The new BJP state chief will also have to put the party’s house in order. All the talk of camaraderie and unity in the party notwithstanding, there are too many elephants in the room. Electoral politics can be dynamic. Mohanty’s major test would be how he handles the power groups in the party. 

Mohanty’s election has also signalled a new phase in the state BJP, which had almost turned into a one-man show after 2014. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was entrusted with the responsibility of winning Odisha, touted as the CM face of the BJP and his writ ran supreme. The 2017 rural election showing had bolstered his position but after the 2019 Assembly polls where the party could muster only 23 of the 147 seats, Pradhan seems to have withdrawn from Odisha politics. As Mohanty begins his innings as president, he would be aware of the foremost shortcoming of his party — that of not having a leader to match Naveen Patnaik’s charisma. There are mountains of odds stacked against the BJP in Odisha and the first test for Mohanty is only months away. 

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The New Indian Express
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