Naveen Patnaik set to become Odisha CM for a record fifth term

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik is all set to return to power in Odisha for a record fifth term with his party certain to bag a brute majority in the state assembly.

The BJD, which had won 117 seats in 2014, was leading on 110 seats when reports last came in. Counting is being done for 146 out of 147 assembly seats as election in Patkura has been postponed following the death of BJD candidate.

The BJD is also ahead in the race for the Lok Sabha with its candidates leading on 12 out of the 21 seats. The BJP, which had won only one Lok Sabha seat last time, is ahead on the rest of the seats.

For the Congress, which was riven by dissensions, the results have been disappointing with the party facing the prospect of losing its main opposition party tag to the BJP. While Congress candidates are leading on just 10 assembly seats BJP seems to be in a position to grab 24. In the last assembly Congress had 16 MLAs compared to BJP’s 10 and it was the main opposition party.

Congress’s Lok Sabha campaign, too, seems set to end in disappointment with the party trailing behind BJD candidates on Nowrangpur and Koraput seats where it had big hopes of victory.

The results, however, have proved the invincibility of chief minister Naveen Patnaik beyond doubt. With his welfare programmes getting a thumbs up from the electorate Patnaik has turned anti-incumbency on its head, perhaps the only chief minister of the state to have performed this feat. His father, legendary Biju Patnaik was the chief minister of the state twice but the gap between his two stints was almost 30 years. In contrast Naveen is on the threshold of creating history by winning his fifth election back to back.

“We had blocked the Modi wave last time and we have done it again. Our hard work had paid off. Irrespective of opposition’s misleading campaign we were always certain of victory,” said BJD general secretary, Bijay Nayak.

On the other hand, state BJP leaders feel that the party failed to take advantage of the strong undercurrent in favour of Modi as far as assembly elections are concerned. “We must introspect as to why we could not make the most of Modi magic. Though we have made gains in the assembly we cannot be satisfied with that,” said senior BJP leader Pradeep Purohit.

However, Modi undercurrent seems to have worked in favour of BJP as far as Lok Sabha seats are concerned with party candidates leading on as many as nine of them. If the party succeeds in winning them, which seems likely, it would have gained eight seats compared to its 2014 performance.

The key seats on which the party is leading include the prestigious Bhubaneswar and Sundergarh seats. While in Bhubaneswar former IAS officer, Aparajita Sarangi seems set to trounce her BJD rival former Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik, in Sundergarh union minister Jual Oram is likely to win again.

However, the big disappointment for BJP has been Kendrapara where chief minister’s friend-turned-foe Baijayant ‘ Jay’ Panda is trailing his BJD rival film star Anubhav Mohanty by a big margin. The seat was a prestige issue for the chief minister who had campaigned in Kendrapara extensively.

Another significant aspect of this election has been Patnaik’s choice of women candidates most of whom appear to be winning. Of the seven women Lok Sabha candidates handpicked by the chief minister, five seem set to win, the seats being Aska, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Koraput and Jajpur. Of these Aska has been the cynosure of all eyes with Patnaik fielding 68-year-old self-help group leader, Pramila Bisoi from the seat. Bisoi, who dropped out of school after class III, seems set for a landslide victory.

Political analysts like Prof. Anand Mishra attribute BJD’s success to its strong organisational network coupled with the many welfare schemes of its government targeted at the poorer sections of the population. “It had a scheme for almost every disadvantaged section which turned things BJD’s way. Besides chief minister’s personal image remains blemish-free,” said Mishra.