Walkout: Naveen springs a last-minute surprise

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By Soumyajit Pattnaik

He has done umpteen times in the past and BJD president Naveen Patnaik has done it again. True to his trademark political style, Naveen Patnaik has again sprung a last-minute surprise. While guessing games had begun on the certitude of BJD abstaining from voting in Lok Sabha, the dramatic walkout right at the beginning turned most predictions topsy-turvy. Die was cast as BJD parliamentary party leader Bhartruhari Mahtab spoke about 14-years of neglect by both the UPA and NDA Governments and all the party MPs in unison trooped out of the House with alacrity.

Will the BJD gain from this startling walkout before the House could even commence the proceedings?

First, Naveen wants to shield the BJD from the shenanigans and ever-changing political equations in Delhi. Politics at the national level is in a state of flux. New alliances are being worked out as old allies are parting ways. But the shape of the new alliance is yet to crystallize. In this backdrop, BJD preferred to play the waiting game rather than joining the new alliance structure which seems to be gravitating towards bipolarity.

Second, the no-confidence motion has been moved by TDP. So far as construction of Polavaram dam is concerned, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are engaged in a bitter feud. The Polavaram dam was accorded national project status by the earlier UPA Government led by the Congress and the current NDA regime too is turning a blind eye to Odisha’s concerns. In this backdrop of growing rancour between the neighbouring states, the BJD perhaps could not have supported the TDP on the no-confidence issue.

Third, there are different shades of opinion within the BJD on how to counter the BJP. PM Narendra Modi’s speech at Cuttack on May 26 was certainly at variance with the PM’s “syndicate ruling West Bengal” speech at Midnapore earlier this week. In contrast, the PM only spoke about Mahanadi and did not launch any personal attacks against the Odisha CM at Cuttack. Similarly, compared to his earlier visits, Amit Shah was quite restrained in his public utterances during his 1-day visit to the state on July 1.

Unlike his W. Bengal visit on June 28-29 where he addressed a public rally at Purulia, Shah neither addressed any political rally nor addressed the media with a bevy of charges against the BJD Government on 1st July. BJD may have avoided upping the ante against the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre after the PM and the BJP national president, were not as aggressive as they were on the State government during their earlier visits. As the BJP is perhaps looking towards a new scenario after the 2019 polls, Naveen Patnaik too preferred not to reveal too much on his choices for the future.

Fourth, Odisha has remained impervious to the winds of change blowing in Delhi. In 2004 and 2009, the Congress-led UPA government came to power in Delhi, but it didn’t shore up the fortunes of the Congress in Odisha. Similarly, the Modi storm pulverised the Opposition in 2014, but the storm fizzled out in Odisha. As Odisha remains largely unaffected by the events unfolding in Delhi and elsewhere, Naveen Patnaik may have thought it proper to concentrate his focus entirely on the state. Naveen may have calculated that the Delhi power games can only have deleterious impact on his party and the government.

Since Naveen Patnaik is still in a position of strength, he can still afford to forego the need to join hands with like-minded parties to fight a common foe. The present state of affairs in Odisha shows that other parties perhaps need to join hands to keep the BJD at bay.

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