After the 24-year-old fortress of BJD came crashing down in the just-concluded simultaneous elections, party supremo Naveen Patnaik and other senior leaders have started to find out where they went wrong.
Where the party went wrong
Most leaders and workers have started blaming Naveen’s man Friday VK Pandian for the party’s debacle. On Friday, some members of the Biju Chhatra Janata Dal raised slogans against Pandian in the very presence of the party’s organizational secretary Pranab Prakash Das at the Sankha Bhawan. They didn’t spare Manas Mangaraj and Sasmit Patra either. They spewed venom at Sasmit Patra as well for holding a press meet on Pandian’s Delhi visit.
Worse, former Satyabadi MLA Uma Samantaray also didn’t mince words while revealing why he had to face defeat in the Brahmagiri seat.
“When I was asked to contest from Brahmagiri seat, I denied. Even after I denied four times, the Chief Minister told me if you want to see me as the Chief Minister for the sixth term, you have to fight from Brahmagiri,” said Samantaray.
On the other hand, senior BJD leader Prasanna Acharya said, “In an election, there is win and loss. Our party has not weakened. It is strong and will become stronger in the coming days.”
What senior leaders said
Two days ago, when asked about the reason why the party bit the dust, former legislator of Kendrapara Sashi Bhusan Behera had ascribed to the fact that senior leaders were kept away from election management.
Similarly, senior leader Prafulla Samal had also said that Naveen Babu is capable enough to do everything without Pandian.
Political analysts’ advice for BJD
Meanwhile, political analysts said the party’s future depends on Naveen’s next course of action.
“Had the BJD leaders shown the alacrity they are showing now after the defeat, they wouldn’t have faced the situation today. Then none had the courage to say anything against Pandian and Manas Mangaraj. The party can come out of its shock defeat and go ahead only when the mistakes are rectified and action is taken against those who are responsible for the defeat,” said political analyst Prasanna Mohanty.