Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, flanked by Hinduja Group co-chairman GP Hinduja (extreme left), chairman SP Hinduja (2nd from right) and RP Hinduja (extreme right), regional chairman, Americas, of the Hinduja Group at a reception organised by the Indo-European Business Forum in London on Tuesday. (PTI)

Bhubaneswar, May 30: Now that Rajya Sabha member Pyari Mohan Mohapatra has played out his hand and seems to have ended up on the losing side, it is for his boss chief minister, Naveen Patnaik to make the next move.

But Naveen, whose arrival here is being awaited with bated breath, will have a tough task on his hands. Striking at Mohapatra, his one time confidant and advisor-in-chief, can be dicey considering that it is too early to dismiss the bureaucrat-turned-politician as a spent force.

Going by Mohapatra’s own claim as many as 33 BJD MLAs were present at his Shaheed Nagar residence last evening when coup rumours started doing the rounds of the city. However, the real number would have been much more than that considering that another 13 had to go back from the entrance to his house because of the sizeable media presence.

In a party with 104 MLAs, this is a fairly good number if it comes to a trial of strength as both sides can hope to rope in some fence-sitters in a crunch situation. In this case, it is equally important to remember that suggestions have been made about the possibility of Congress extending support to the rebels if they manage to rustle up the right numbers.

But Naveen cannot afford to sit quiet either as that would set a bad precedent. There have been very few instances of inertia striking him in such situations. The most important of these was when around a dozen BJD MLAs defied the party whip and voted in favour of former Union minister Dilip Ray in the Rajya Sabha elections of 2002, which he won as an independent.

Despite the provocation, Naveen chose not to act immediately as his own position within the party at the time was not strong enough and any disciplinary action against the dissidents, who included some heavyweights, would have done BJD permanent damage.

In most other cases, the chief minister has shown zero tolerance for dissidence and also acted swiftly against any perceived threat to his own position. Making short work of potential adversaries has been one of the most dominant traits of Naveen’s political character.

He did away with former minister and party heavyweight Bijay Mohapatra in 2000 when the latter began asserting himself. Naveen lost no time in dropping long time colleague and minister Nalini Kanta Mohanty from the cabinet in 2002 when a perception gained ground that the latter, who then held the post of BJD working president, could emerge as his rival in the party.

Touchy about criticism, last year he suspended former minister and his one time officer on special duty (OSD) Debashish Nayak, when the MLA from Derabis accused him of being overdependent on Mohapatra who was then calling the shots in the party.

Going by his past record, he should act tough against Mohapatra and his loyalists as well. Sources said that even assuming that the Rajya Sabha member actually commands the support of 45 to 46 BJD MLAs, the chief minister, in the worst case scenario, still has the option of dissolving the Assembly and seeking a fresh mandate from the people.

However, notwithstanding all this, Naveen may still like to take a pragmatic view of the situation to save the party from a possible split. This, no doubt, is going to be a tight rope walk for him.