Naveen’s besties 

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik may be waging a war against the NDA government on Mahanadi and Polavaram issues, but his personal equations with senior central leaders, such as Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, remain extremely cordial. Sources said the bonhomie between Naveen and Jaitley was evident at their recent meeting in Delhi where the chief minister extended an invitation to the latter to be the guest of honour at the plenary session of the Make in Odisha Conclave-2016 in Bhubaneswar on December 1. The two leaders also discussed some other crucial issues with Jaitley reportedly responding positively to the demands and suggestions made by the Odisha chief minister. Sources said Naveen’s way of conducting politics has impressed even his adversaries.

Jual works hard 

Union minister Jual Oram is reportedly working overtime to ensure that his party does well in the upcoming panchayat elections in Sundargarh, the constituency he represents in the Lok Sabha. Sources said he is putting in extra effort to woo voters in the Bonei segment of the constituency, as here, he is up against his old adversary Bhimsen Choudhary, who, after being expelled from the BJP, had a brief dalliance with the Congress before joining the BJD. Bonei being the stronghold of Choudhary, the ruling party is expected to do well there but Oram is equally keen to ensure that BJP remains well entrenched in the area. “It’s going to be a tough battle,” said a BJP leader.

Old-age pangs

These are bad times for the BJD’s old guard. While former finance minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadai, once a prominent member of BJD veteran’s club, was shown the door for alleged anti-party activities in 2014, his long-time associate, Surendra Nath Nayak, who was a member of the Biju Patnaik cabinet along with him, is struggling to keep himself politically afloat. Co-operation and excise minister Damodar Rout, the only member of the old guard to be part of the Naveen Patnaik cabinet, is unhappy with the way he is being treated. He made his displeasure known when he was not allowed to speak on the Mahanadi issue during a debate in the last session of the Assembly. “They don’t seem to have much of a future in the party. They are fading out,” remarked a BJD leader.

Heir apparent

Former minister and BJP veteran Biswabhushan Harichandan seems to be promoting his son, Prithviraj Harichandan, at the cost of his own political career. These days, one rarely finds the senior Harichandan, who was among the founder members of the BJP in the state, addressing media conferences or even issuing statements on crucial issues. He seems to have delegated that job to his son who is one of the general secretaries of the BJP’s Odisha unit. But support from his father notwithstanding, Prithviraj is yet to make his mark in electoral politics. He lost the last Lok Sabha election from Bhubaneswar despite a Modi wave sweeping the country. His supporters hope he has better luck next time.

Fading Biswal  

Once the tribal face of the Congress, former chief minister Hemanand Biswal seems to have been relegated to the sidelines. With younger tribal leaders like former Nabrangpur MP Pradeep Majhi shooting into prominence and taking the lead in organising movements on issues concerning tribal people and dalits, Biswal’s presence in the party is hardly noticed these days. Sources said the former chief minister himself did not help matters when he questioned the leadership of state party president Prasad Harichandan some time ago. Though he later denied having criticised Prasad, the damage had been done. Sources in the party said it would take Biswal some time to regain the confidence of the leadership. 

Footnote

Letter vs spirit

Odia zealots might be happy with the government’s decision to make the use of Odia language in official work compulsory, but a number of ministers as well as ruling BJD MLAs are said to be jittery about the move. Sources said many of them had become so used to doing official work in English that the sudden switch to Odia might be difficult for them. Though no one is willing to go public, they expect the government to come out with an authentic lexicon of technical terms in Odia to make things easier for them. Sources said chief minister Naveen Patnaik, whose Odia still remains suspect, might himself face problems if he were to follow the government’s diktat in letter and spirit.