Bhubaneswar, Feb. 14: The BJD’s winning spree in the panchayat elections has come as an endorsement of the Naveen Patnaik government’s performance.
The winning trend in a way blunts Opposition campaign against the government on issues such as Pipili gangrape case and the Cuttack-Khurda hooch tragedy. This is a major victory for the ruling party as the zilla parishad candidates contest on party symbols.
So far, elections have been held for 391 out of 854 zilla parishad seats. The BJD has bagged 275, the Congress 65 and the BJP 18 seats. In 2007 elections, the BJD had secured 345 seats, the BJP 129, the Congress 303, the JMM 24, the CPM 4, the BSP 1 and Independents 39. The other political parties had managed to win eight seats. That time, the BJD and the BJP had contested the polls as allies.
The BJD’s second-in-command Pyari Mohan Mohapatra said: “If the trend continues, the BJD will win more than 600 seats out of 854.” However, he refuted the Opposition allegations of the ruling party using money and muscle power in the elections.
In the second phase, the elections were held for the 197 zilla parishad seats. The BJD bagged 143 seats.
Pradesh Congress chief Niranjan Patnaik failed to boost the Congress’ performance in the state. The party failed to bag a single zilla parishad seat in his native district, Keonjhar. So far, the Congress has not been able to open its mark in seven districts. The third phase of the polls would be held on Wednesday for 188 zilla parishad members.
The BJP, which lost its ground after the party ended its alliance with the BJD in 2009, has not been able to regroup itself. The trend in the rural polls also shows that the BJP is losing its ground in western Odisha, considered as its bastion. The party has also not been able to open its account in more than 20 of the state’s 30 districts.
On the other hand, the BJD has done fairly well in the Maoist-affected districts, including Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sundergarh and Sonepur.
Senior Congress leader Narasingh Mishra said: “We accept the verdict gracefully. We have enough time before the next Assembly polls to rectify our mistakes and bounce back.” The results should be an occasion for introspection for both the Congress and the BJP, who have failed to live up to their potential.
The problem with both the parties has been their failure to translate public support generated on major issues into votes.
“They invariably fail to take political advantage of issues. The truth is that their strategy has been flawed,” said a political analyst.
