Nirvik Bureau, Bhubaneswar, 26 June 2024
On 24th June, former CM and BJD President, Naveen Patnaik, called all the 9 BJD members of the Rajya Sabha for a meeting. He directed them to oppose the BJP and the NDA government tooth and nail in the current special session of the Parliament. For a party that had supported the previous two NDA governments (2014-2024) in the Rajya Sabha, and was angling for a pre-poll alliance with the BJP for 2024, this is a sharp U-turn that has surprised political observers and the leaders of both the NDA and the I.N.D.I.A.
What is running in Naveen Patnaik’s mind? For a party that professed equidistance from both the alliances, but stood strongly with the NDA in the Rajya Sabha in the last 10 years, the time to reinvent itself came after the disastrous results of the recent Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha results in Odisha. Losing power in Odisha was a far greater shock than drawing a blank in the Lok Sabha. The BJD has realised that the wink wink nudge nudge relationship with the BJP would not help it in its revival. Rather, it would sink further down Odisha’s swampy electoral terrain!
Does this new approach signify a permanent change in approach? Or is it a temporary flexing of muscles to let the NDA leadership know that they can’t do business in the Rajya Sabha without the BJD? Is a grand bargain being negotiated between the BJP and the BJD? Would the I.N.D.I.A take advantage of this slim opportunity and try to court the BJD aggressively to join the alliance? Well, the words and conduct of the BJD members in the Rajya Sabha over the next few months may provide us with some answers.
But it is apparent that the BJD is trying something very different….otherwise, for a party that has always restrained its members from going into the well of either house, a green signal to enter the well of the Rajya Sabha to oppose the BJP and the NDA is a radical shift.
