Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who also heads the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), completed the first year of his fourth consecutive term in office recently.
The year was eventful and most challenging for Patnaik, because never before since he became chief minister for the first time more than a decade and half ago, were his administration and party hit by so many scams and corruption charges.
However, all these charges had little impact on his popularity among the masses. This was clearly evident from the manner in which the electorates voted for him in the elections that were held during the year. They included a crucial bypoll for the prestigious Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.
The biggest scandal that rocked the Patnaik administration as well as his party was the multi-crore chit fund scam which is still being investigated by the CBI. It was a major embarrassment for the BJD when the probe agency arrested two senior party leaders – sitting Lok Sabha member Ramachandra Hansda and Prabhat Tripathy, currently a member of the Assembly – for their alleged association with two tainted state-based chit fund companies.
Apart from arresting the two senior leaders, the CBI also questioned a number of other BJD functionaries including a few legislators in connection with the scam. The development provided an excellent opportunity to the opposition parties like the Congress and the BJP to push the Patnaik-led regional outfit to a corner. Several government officials including an official in Chief Minister Patnaik’s office were also questioned in connection with the scam.
Besides the chit fund scam, the government was also hit by discretionary quota (DQ) and land scam in capital city Bhubaneswar in which state ministers, MLAs and others were found garnering government land and houses from the state-run Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) as well as the state housing board through illegal means.
Patnaik’s administration was also at the receiving end from different quarters on the law and order issue as well as its failure to control the spread of jaundice which had triggered havoc in many towns and semi-urban areas across the state.
The administration’s failure to resolve the power crisis in the state also put the government on the dock.
Nevertheless, when it came to elections during the year, it was the BJD which won them in a spectacular fashion. It was the Patnaik-led party which pocketed the crucial polls to nine urban local bodies. Majority of them were in western Odisha which was known as Congress and BJP bastion a few years ago.
Similarly, the BJD retained the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat in a bypoll defeating the BJP by a huge margin of more than three lakh votes. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of Hemendra Singh who had won the seat during the 2014 polls by less margin of votes.
Sole triumph card
Significantly, the Kandhamal Lok Sabha bypoll was held in the midst of the chit fund scam and the urban local bodies had gone to the elections just a few days after the Patnaik administration was rocked by land and DQ scandal.
Analyst attribute the ruling BJD’s repeated electoral successes despite all odds to the personal clean image of the chief minister Patnaik, who continues to be the regional outfit’s sole triumph card. Despite all their attempts, the opposition parties have not been able to link Patnaik’s name in any of the scandals so far.
Apart from managing a clean image for himself, his attempt to cleanse the party by taking timely actions seems to have also been appreciated by the people. A case in point is his decision to suspend the two senior leaders from the party who were arrested in the chit fund scam. He did not hesitate to take action against them, particularly Prabhat Tripathy, despite open opposition to the move by a section of the senior leaders within the regional outfit including Bhatruhari Mahatab, the BJD’s leader in the Lok Sabha.
During the year, the Patnaik administration also launched a number of populist schemes like Aahar Yojana under which poor people in urban centres were provided with rice and dalma (a popular local dish made of dal and vegetables) at a cheap rate of Rs 5 per plate. Besides, there was a scheme called Nirmaya, under which poor people would get medicines free of cost even for major diseases like cancer.
But observers believe that more than these populist schemes and performance of his government, it is Patnaik’s image that helps BJD keep its popularity intact among the common people. The table will turn against the regional outfit the day the personal image of the chief minister will get dented for some reasons.
If not openly but during private conversations, leaders of the opposition parties do concede that Patnaik’s personal image and charisma as well as their failure to create and project a leader who can match the four-time chief minister have been key factors for the BJD’s spectacular run in electoral battles.
However, they also feel that a political party can not win elections forever depending on the clean image of a single individual. “When the people will vote against the BJD, they will vote with the same forceful manner in which they are voting in favour of it now,” said senior state BJP leader Prithviraj Harichandan. It remains to be seen when that day will come.