Bhubaneswar, March 4: From the jet-setting socialite who once counted Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Mick Jagger among friends to the chief minister of one of India’s poorest states for three consecutive terms, Naveen Patnaik has come a long way.
As he reaches the landmark of 11 years on the saddle, which coincides with the 95th birth anniversary of his father Biju Patnaik, the transformation of the chic author of celebrated coffee table books into a master politician seems complete.
For Naveen, who was written off by critics as a “no hoper” when he made a rather reluctant entry into politics in 1997 following his father’s death, the Lok Sabha by-election from Aska was the acid test.
He won the seat with a thumping margin, giving birth to Naveen, the fighter. Aska voted for him twice again and he was a Union minister for two terms before leading Biju Janata Dal to a remarkable victory in the 2000 Assembly elections in the state.
Thereafter, he won two more consecutive Assembly elections, which proved not only his popularity but also his political astuteness. The gentle assassin, as he is often referred to in the state’s political circles, seems to have made a habit of getting rid of his political adversaries with the minimum fuss.
The first to get a taste of his ruthlessness was Bijay Mohapatra, the political affairs committee chairman of the BJD in 2000. He was among the most powerful leaders of the party who, many considered a threat to Naveen. The party ticket allotted to Mohapatra for the 2000 Assembly elections was withdrawn at the last moment leaving him with no time even to file his papers as an independent. Mohapatra, who is now in the Bhartiya Janata Party, has not won an Assembly election since then.
Hypersensitive about his image, Naveen has dropped more than a dozen ministers on charges of corruption, which were hotly contested by some of the victims, who eventually parted company with him.
The ministers who quit BJD and joined Congress following differences with Naveen included Nalini Kanta Mohanty, Kamla Das and Ramkrushna Patnaik. The image-conscious chief minister recently also sacked women and child welfare minister Pramila Mallick in the wake of the dal scam.
The success in the elections notwithstanding, it has not always been a smooth ride for Naveen, who has braved many storms during the last 11 years.
There have been scams galore beginning with the tender fixing scandal that rocked the government in 2005. While things got even more difficult for him in his latest innings with coal scam and the Rs 10,000 crore mining scam, it is the dal scam which has proved to be most embarrassing of them all.
As if scams were not trouble enough for the government, about a fortnight ago, it also had to deal with a hostage crisis which invited criticism from the Opposition.
But Opposition’s claims of victory notwithstanding, none of this seems to have affected the public image of the chief minister.
Naveen has cleverly built up support for himself by resorting to populist measures like providing Rs 2 a kg rice to the poor through the public distribution system and promising bicycles to Class X girls in government schools across the state. He has also done his bit to put Orissa on the industrial map of the country by attracting investments of more than Rs 4 lakh crore.
However, Opposition leaders beg to differ.
“He has achieved many things for himself but Orissa is yet to see real development. He can also no more claim to be honest,” said BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra. The leader of Opposition, Bhupinder Singh, lashed out at Naveen for neglecting agriculture while offering the state’s minerals on a platter to private companies.
But neutrals observers like eminent writer Mohapatra Nilamani Sahoo, feel that Naveen, though honest and efficient, needs to have a deeper understanding of the state.
Is the chief minister listening?
