Cold-shoulder

The high-flying law minister, Arun Sahu, has been brought to the ground with a loud thud. A storm brewed over his appearance on the social media when pictures of him sleeping beside daitapatis (temple servitors) during the banajaga yatra, the first phase of the Nabakalebar festival, got embroiled in a controversy. Among the most articulate of Naveen Patnaik’s minister, Sahu has consistently refused to answer queries on the issue even as the Opposition has stepped up the demand for his resignation. His own party leaders have chosen to steer clear of the controversy. The only one to comment on it and that too obliquely was his political mentor and Athgarh MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain. Clearly no one in the party wants to stick up for him as he has hardly ever stood up for them in the past. 

Taken to task 

Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das used to strut through the corridors of the secretariat like a proud peacock, supremely confident of himself. But things have changed. His overweening confidence was, however, badly shaken when chief minister Naveen Patnaik during a recent review of his departments pointed out a number of shortcomings. It left Das rattled and he immediately pulled up the officials of his department, asking them to meet targets. His focus was clearly on the projects connected with the Nabakalebar and rath yatra festivals, which the chief minister himself is monitoring. The young minister is keen to avoid yet another dressing-down from his boss. 

CM’s restraint 

If sources are to be believed, the Brahma Paribartan (soul transfer) fiasco inside the Jagannath temple in Puri has left chief minister Naveen Patnaik fuming. Under normal circumstances, a few heads in the government would have rolled by now but Naveen is acting with deliberate restraint so as to ensure that nothing goes wrong during the 
upcoming rath yatra when Puri is expecting a gathering of over 30 lakh people. But BJD insiders say the chief minister is certain to crack whip on the ministers and 
officials who erred and caused him embarrassment by mishandling the Brahma Paribartan ceremony. “The only hope for those who faltered in the conduct of the ceremony is to ensure that the rath yatra is a grand 
success. That might save them from the Naveen’s wrath,” said a ruling BJD leader. 

Authoritative

Under attack for being too soft and intellectually oriented for the good of his party, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, Prasad Harichandan, has asserted his authority by organising the highly successful Odisha strike on June 26 to protest against the mishandling of the Brahma Paribaratan ritual of the deities at the 
Jagannath temple in Puri.  The shutdown that he led from the front revealed the aggressive side of his persona to the party workers for the first time. Better still, he was able to unite the ever-warring faction leaders of the party and ensure that they worked wholeheartedly to make the strike a resounding success. But even as Harichandan collects bouquets from friends and colleagues, the question already doing the rounds is whether he can maintain this tempo. Only time will tell.

In focus

In politics both image building and self-promotion are considered art forms. In the BJP, the man who has seemingly mastered this art is Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan. By leveraging his power as Union minister and ensuring that he is always at the right place at the right time, he has, for all practical purposes, forced the media to keep the focus on him. Whether it is running new trains to Puri for rath yatra and the Nabakalebar or starting international flights from the Biju Patnaik International Airport, he has successfully projected himself as the prime mover behind these initiatives. Though one would not like to take any credit away from him, his PR skills, too, need to be acknowledged.

FOOTNOTE

Criticism granted

What makes excise minister and senior BJD leader Damodar Rout tick? What is it that keeps him in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet despite his occasionally veiled and occasionally open attacks on the government? The latest example of his growing tendency to target his own government was his critical remarks on the Brahma Paribartan fiasco at a time when the controversy had led Naveen in all kinds of trouble. BJD sources said if Rout survived despite of all his criticism, it was because he was seen as the balancing factor within the party and 
tolerating him made it easy for Naveen to deflect the oft-repeated charge of being an autocratic leader. “That he survives despite his acute tendency to embarrass his own government proves there is democracy within the BJD,” said a party leader.