Bhubaneswar: The four and a half crore people of Odisha have dethroned the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the party that governed the state for a long span of 25 years. BJD President & Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has not known defeat since he stepped into the political arena and remained invincible in every election.
BJD has contested 5 assembly elections and 6 Lok Sabha elections in the past years and always came out with flying colours. After the formation of BJD on 26th December 1997, Lok Sabha elections were held in 1998. BJD again contested Lok Sabha elections in 1999, and in 2000, the first assembly elections.
Under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, BJD won a good number of seats in 1998 and 1999. In 2000, the BJD won the assembly elections and formed the government in alliance with the BJP. Later, BJD won in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 elections. This time also, BJD made all kinds of efforts in the election and the Chief Minister himself went around campaigning, but all in vain.
For the first time, the BJP is going to form the government in Odisha. BJP has reached the status of gaining full majority to form the government in the state. The conch party’s debacle under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, has left all stunned.
V.K. Pandian, Bureaucrat-turned-politician, who was spearheading the BJD’s election campaign this time, was the Odisha Chief Minister’s personal secretary from 2012 and later joined the BJD after resigning from govt service and took full responsibility for the party’s preparations for the general elections.
BJP also jumped into the battlefield by raising the issue of Odia Asmita, targeting Pandian. Before the elections, BJD made a strong effort to negotiate with the BJP, but the saffron party decided to go solo.
The Prime Minister has visited Odisha four times. Besides holding road shows in Bhubaneswar and Puri, he has held campaign meetings in the districts of Phulbani, Balangir, Bargarh, Angul, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Nabarangpur, Kendrapara etc. Before the election, he held a meeting in Chandikhol, Jajpur district. For the first time, a review meeting was held at the BJP state party HQ regarding elections.
Along with the Prime Minister, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaisnaw, Textile Industry Minister Smriti Irani, Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam also campaigned for the party candidates.
This time the BJP was able to create a strong public opinion against the BJD. Even though the BJP had started efforts to remove Naveen Patnaik’s government in 2014, it was not successful. This time, after VK Pandian took charge of the BJD’s election campaign, the BJP managed to topple the government.
Despite Naveen Patnaik’s popularity, BJD’s debacle in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections is now being directly attributed to Pandian’s leadership and management. If Naveen Patnaik had formed the government this time, he would have held the record of becoming the longest-serving Chief Minister of the country.
