BJP has won just one seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is striving to project itself as an alternative to the BJD in Odisha.
The images of a man carrying his dead wife on his shoulders brought fact finding teams from Congress and BJP to Odisha, their target being the ruling Naveen Patnaik government. After Assam, where it toppled the Tarun Gogoi regime which had ruled for 15 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now set its eyes on Odisha, where the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has been in power for 16 years.
The BJP, which has never been in power in the state and has won just one seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, is striving to project itself as an alternative to the BJD in the state. The focus on Odisha is evident from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's three recent rallies, the unusually high number of visits by Union ministers to the state and the BJP's taking to the streets against the Patnaik government.
Eight years after breaking off from the alliance with the BJD, the BJP is now planning a programme every month in every Mandal of the state to highlight "misrule" of the Patnaik government. "We have asked the state unit to raise local issues. District level agitations will be held from September 15 to 20," said Arun Singh, BJP general secretary in-charge of Odisha. The agitations are also intended to drive home the point that the BJP and BJD were no longer together.
As part of its strategy for 2019, when the next Lok Sabha and state elections will be held, the BJP has already started work on the ground to strengthen the organisation. The party will hold state level agitations in November, ahead of the January, 2017, local body elections which are being seen as a litmus test ahead of assembly and Lok Sabha elections. With the BJP at its peak in around ten states, the party is looking at Odisha as one of the potential states where it can increase its tally in 2019.
The party is preparing a list of issues-- jaundice deaths, self-help group funds, farmers' suicides, tribals" concerns and the recent episode of a man carrying his dead wife's body-- on which it could take on the Patnaik government. Modi has already held three rallies-- Paradip on the coast, Bargarh in Western Odisha and Baleshwar in the northern part of the state-- in recent months.
The BJD, however, is dismissive of the BJP's plans to present itself as an alternative. "The BJP might like to pose itself as anything it wants, but fortunately the average Oriya since 1960s has always opted for a regional party. As long as Naveen Patnaik and BJD exist, the Oriya will go regional," said BJD MP Tathagata Satpathy.
However, according to Singh, the party was expanding the organisational base and from 451 mandals there were 997 now. The BJP, which won only the Sundergarh seat (Jual Oram) and came second in around ten seats getting 22.5 per cent votes, is banking on the "anti-incumbency" of the BJD regime. In 2009, the BJP was number two in one seat and number three in 20. While it was in alliance with BJD, the BJP had influential pockets in Western Odisha but was weak in coastal belt.
List of issues
The party is preparing a list of issues-- jaundice deaths, self-help group funds, farmers' suicides, tribals" concerns and the recent episode of a man carrying his dead wife's body-- on which it could take on the Patnaik government. Modi has already held three rallies-- Paradip on the coast, Bargarh in Western Odisha and Baleshwar in the northern part of the state-- in recent months.
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