“Deserters are welcome!” This was the message writ large over the first two lists of candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha released by the BJP within 24 hours of each other, the second coming late last night.
Sample this. Sitting BJD MP from Nabarangpur left the party on March 14, joined the BJP on March 16 and was nominated as the party candidate from the same constituency on March 20. Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda’s case was only marginally different. After falling out with party supremo Naveen Patnaik, the former Kendrapara MP had resigned from the BJD in June last year and from his seat a little later, but joined the BJP only on March 4. Not only was he promptly appointed BJP national vice president and spokesperson two days after joining; he was also fielded as the party nominee from his old seat. BJD leader Jayaram Pangi, who left the party and joined the BJP in May 2017, has been fielded as the BJP candidate from Koraput Lok Sabha constituency, which he represented in 2009.
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More or less the same pattern was seen in the list for the Assembly polls too. Expelled BJD veteran Dr Damodar Rout, one of the longest serving ministers in the Naveen Patnaik government, joined the BJP on March 14 and was named the party candidate in his old constituency of Ersama-Balikuda less than a week later. Sitting Congress MLA from Salepur Prakash Behera had to wait even less; he was fielded from his old constituency just three days after he joined the BJP!
In an interesting role reversal, BJD reject Susama Tete has been fielded from Sundargarh where she lost to Jogesh Singh, who was in the Congress last time and has now been named the BJD candidate, in 2014. Debaraj Mohanty, K Narayan Rao and Babu Singh were the other recruits from the BJD who have been fielded as BJP candidates this time: Mohanty from Aska Assembly seat, Rao from Paralakhemundi and Singh from Bhubaneswar-Ekamra. Sitting Nilagiri MLA Sukanta Nayak, who left the BJD and joined the BJP recently after her Congress rival in the last election Susama Biswal was roped in by the ruling party, is all set to be fielded as the BJP nominee from the seat this time.
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Sitting Kandhamal MP Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh, who quit the BJD after bring denied a ticket recently, joined the BJP on Saturday and is likely to be nominated as the BJP candidate in Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat.
Not surprisingly, revolt has broken out in several places where imports from other parties have been fielded as BJP candidates this time. Supporters of Amiya Das, the head of the Bhubaneswar unit of the party, locked up the gate of the state BJP office last evening. Though they dispersed after the intervention of senior leaders, they were back this morning protesting against the nomination of BJD recruit Babu Singh from the Bhubaneswar-Ekamra seat.
Resentment is also brewing within the party with some of the choices in the second list. The replacement of Subas Chouhan, who put up a spirited fight in the Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency and lost to Pravas Singh of the BJD by just 11, 178 votes, with senior leader and national general secretary Suresh Pujari, has left supporters of Chouhan fuming. Speculation is rife that he could be fielded as the BJP candidate in Bijepur Assembly seat where Chief Minster Naveen Patnaik is the candidate. Suresh Pujari, who has always contested from Sambalpur, has been replaced by sitting Deogarh MLA Nitesh Gangdev and pushed to Bargarh. Most people believe a powerful group in the party has ‘killed two birds with one stone’ by pushing Chouhan and Pujari, both of them leaders with a substantial support in their constituencies, into unfamiliar territory. “They have been made sacrificial lambs,” a BJP worker told Outlook.
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The fact that almost all those who are deserting the BJD after losing out on the ticket sweepstakes are heading for the BJP suggests that they consider the saffron party a better bet than the Congress right now. Just about the only prominent BJD leader the Congress has managed to rope is erstwhile MLA from Dhenkanal Nabin Nanda.
One will, however, have to wait till May 23 to find out if the political instincts of those who joined the BJP in the last few days have served them right.
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