Naveen: Confident

Bhubaneswar, May 2: With the exit polls predicting a comfortable win for Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik, Orissa seems to be discovering a new facet of the chief minister — he can shed his kid gloves when it comes to a good fight.

On Tuesday, a day after the elections to 21 Lok Sabha and the Assembly were over in the state, Patnaik sauntered to his office at the state secretariat around 12 noon.

Though everyone expected him to relax after some hectic campaigning, the BJD boss chose to spring a surprise on his staff in the chief minister’s office (CMO).

He stayed in the office for some time and went through a few files. “There is no rest in politics. Once I have joined it, I have to work for the people of the state,” he told mediapersons.

Patnaik seems to have chosen this year’s elections to emerge from his illustrious father’s shadow.

Though references to his late father were common during the campaign, Naveen was the main focus everywhere.

“The Congress seems to have become a ‘corruption club’ with the inclusion of a few BJD discards,” he had said at several meetings while ridiculing the “Stree, jamai and jamai ka bhai” (Wife, son-in-law and brother of son-in-law) politics of Congress leader J.B. Patnaik.

“I will not spare anyone, be it an IAS officer, the vachaspati (Speaker) or a mantri (minister),” Naveen had thundered at poll rallies referring to his denial of ticket to controversial Speaker Sarat Kar and senior bureaucrat Prafulla Mishra.

“For the first time, he appears to be bold and is speaking like a politician,” gushed BJP candidate from the Deogarh Lok Sabha seat, Dharmendra Pradhan.

Allies like Pradhan feel the BJD chief has started maturing as a politician.

“Earlier, he was not political in his approach, as the coterie of bureaucrats sheathed him from the realities. Now, he has shed his image of being inaccessible,” he said.

Much before the Opposition leaders could think of the election, the caretaker chief minister was up and ready as he started criss-crossing the state in a government helicopter.

In the 248 meetings that he addressed across the state during his month-long campaign, the running theme was his crusade against corruption and the nepotism of his predecessor, J.B. Patnaik.

Having decided to hold the Assembly poll along with the Lok Sabha election, Naveen shed his aloofness and awkwardness to lead the alliance from front.

Labelled a non-performer for failing to bring any development, he used his perceived clean image to take the battle to the enemy camp. On the other hand, his main adversary, J.B. Patnaik, was unsure of contesting from Begunia till the last moment.

“Most of the young voters in the state have not seen Biju though they have heard about him. For them, Naveen is the face of the crusade against corruption,” said Balakrushna Rath, general secretary of BJD.

However, critics like Balgopal Mishra do not have such high regards for the “changed” Naveen.

“He will become more arrogant if he wins,” said Mishra, a former BJP legislator and now a candidate from the Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency in the state.

Senior BJD leaders agree that the party chief’s new-found confidence and image makeover bodes well for the party as it would enable Naveen to take on the emboldened Opposition.

Though his Achilles’ heel is his lack of knowledge of Oriya, partymen believe that his confidence would offset all such drawbacks.