Bhubaneswar, Dec. 3: The BJP plumbed new depths today drawing a blank in Phulbani and G. Udaygiri civic polls after a drubbing in coastal and west Odisha.
The setback may have repercussions for the party in the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections as the BJP used to enjoy a strong base in the area with sitting MLAs in G. Udaygiri and Baliguda.
The BJD, which contested the last urban elections in Phulbani and G. Udaygiri in tandem with the BJP, is set to capture both the civic bodies. While its candidates won in nine of the 13 wards of the Phulbani Municipality, they were victorious in 10 wards of G. Udaygiri.
The Congress, which held sway in G. Udaygiri in 2008 with its councillors in six of 13 wards of the notified area council, it could manage only two this time. The party won in an equal number of wards in Phulbani. Rest of the wards in the two civic bodies went to Independents, leaving the BJP badly wounded.
The BJP had relied heavily on the Hindutva factor this time, apart from the influence of its two sitting MLAs — Manoj Pradhan (G. Udaygiri) and Karendra Majhi (Baliguda). Part of Kandhamal district, the two civic bodies had been singed by the flames of communal riots in 2008.
The violence, triggered by the killing of VHP leader Laxmananand Saraswati, had left Kandhamal badly bruised and the BJP hoped to gain from it. However, the riot’s wounds having healed with the time, such hopes were belied.
“It is time we did some serious introspection,” said state BJP spokesperson Suresj Pujari, admitting that the municipal poll results bode ill for the party.
Former MP and national vice-president of the BJP Jual Oram dismissed the municipal poll defeat as a minor setback caused mainly due to use of black money and muscle power by the ruling party. “They also misused official machinery in the elections. The results do not reflect on our organisational strength in any way,” he said.
Refuting the charge, BJD general secretary Narendra Swain attributed the party’s emphatic victory to the popularity of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and the slew of welfare schemes launched by him. “Our rivals will come up with all kinds of excuses now, but the truth is that there is no alternative to Naveen Patnaik,” he averred.
