BJD is continuing its 4th term in Odisha. After the death of Biju Patnaik, Biju Janata Dal was formed after his name in last part of 1997. It has traveled a lot since its foundation.
What BJD was in its early day is not today. Many of its founder members are not in the party. Name it, Srikant Jena, Dillip Ray, Bijoy Mahapatra and many more. Time to time Naven Patnaik, the party chief has discarded many founder members in the name of discipline; Damodar Rout and Baijayanta Panda are recent examples.
In the last election 80% of the MLAs of BJD were new to the party and the assembly. Why BJD has adopted this tactic is not surprising, rather it is a well planned political strategy.
First, he has seen May 29 scoop. Naveen Patnaik don’t want to keep his rivals inside his own party. Secondly, he is getting old and having some health problems. He may have to vacate the chair at any time. And any of these were capable of hacking the throne if in power.
If none of these experienced leaders are not the heirs to the throne then who is the successor of Naveen and BJD? It is his nephew, Arun Patnaik.
The preparation in BJD is going on for Arun indeed. When Naveen came to Odisha politics and took over BJD he too struggled a lot handling all the ambitious senior leaders. When Arun will take over BJD, perhaps the same problem may arise if there will be seniors. So the curtailing down process is on for all ambitious one. Baijayanta Panda was one of those, once he had stated, “Biju Babu was a pilot and I’m also a pilot my height and Biju babu’s height matches”. Now Baijayanta Panda is not in BJD. Only old folk survived in the party is Prasanna Acharya, who too had stated that if Naveen Patnaik wouldn’t have been the son of Biju babu then he would have been the CM of Odisha. Let’s see whether Prasanna Acharya survived in BJD till the arrival of Arun Patnaik or not.
Saket Sreebhushan Sahu comments on culture and politics