Jovial mood

The release ceremony of  The Tall Man Biju Patnaik, a pictorial biography of chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s late father, was marked by bonhomie with BJD leaders in a cheerful mood. While former minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak was on his toes receiving guests and helping them to their seats, some of his colleagues were seen cracking jokes and taking selfies. Dhenkanal MP Tathagata Satpathy, who moved among guests exchanging pleasantries, stopped in his tracks when he saw Athgarh MLA, Ranendra Pratap Swain aka Raja sharing a sofa with Rajya Sabha member Pratap Deb. He immediately clicked a picture of the duo on his phone and declared that he had taken one for posterity. One wonders what was so unique about the picture. Maybe the MP got carried away by the occasion.

Naveen beware

The BJP Mahila Morcha is more active than the women's wing of any other party in the state. It not only picks up women-related issues, but also builds up sustained movements around them. The “Kunduli gang-rape” case is an example of how these women made life miserable for chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Irrespective of  what the actual truth is, there is little doubt that the women in saffron have succeeded in extracting a lot of political mileage over the issue with their aggressive campaign. Now they appear set to pull off another political coup by taking up the case a woman party sympathiser, who has been charged by police with attempt to murder for throwing eggs at the chief minister in Balasore district.

PCC drama

Suspense over leadership change in the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) is far from over. While rivals of PCC chief Prasad Harichandan are awaiting an announcement with bated breath, there are reports that the AICC leadership is thinking of experimenting with the “collective leadership” formula. 
This might spare Harichandan the humiliation of being asked to step down, but would significantly curtail his powers and responsibilities with two or three more leaders being assigned the task of running the party alongside him. But all this remains in the realm of speculation with a formal announcement yet to be made. Till then, both pro and anti-Harichandan camps remain on tenterhooks.  

Ashutosh Mishra

FOOTNOTE 

Much water has flown down the Mahanadi since chief minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time demanding a tribunal to settle Odisha’s dispute with Chhattisgarh over the water sharing issue. He has also been consistently pleading with him for directions to Chhattisgarh to stop ongoing constructions on the river, but with little success. Hence, his latest missive to Modi on the issue, even though it comes in the wake of a Supreme Court direction to the Centre for the constitution of a tribunal, has failed to generate much hope, especially those about the stubborn neighbour being restrained from building dams and barrages over the Mahanadi. More so because Modi is unlikely to do anything that would hamper his party's electoral prospects in that state where Assembly polls are due to later this year.