Nirvik Bureau, Bhubaneswar, 6 June, 2024
Naveen Patnaik and the BJD ruled Odisha for 24 long years (the first 9 years in alliance with the BJP) till its unexpected loss in the just concluded elections. Unexpected because the BJD Government seemed to have covered all its bases quite well. Or, it only seemed so. The complete whitewash in the Lok Sabha polls and, more importantly, the loss of more than 60 Vidhan Sabha seats, when compared to its strength in the last Assembly, can be explained by three chinks in its armour.
Firstly, poor selection of candidates. A party that took pride in saying that it was always ready for elections and that took more pride in its pre-election surveys on potential candidates, ended up giving tickets to unpopular, corrupt, and discredited people. There was no systematic selection done and some people were just plucked out of thin air and parachuted to constituencies where they had zero connect with the voters. The surveys that were supposed to be the basis for selection of candidates were given a go by in numerous instances. Worse, tickets were shuffled within families like playing cards (son or daughter for father, wife for husband, etc.). Little did the party realise that such cosmetic change in candidates did not amount to a real change.
Secondly, poor campaign strategy. When the party had 40 star campaigners and Naveen Patnaik as the superstar amongst them, the people of Odisha only saw one man performing a solo act – V.K.Pandian. He campaigned vigorously across the State but clearly it did not work. The BJD should have used Naveen Patnaik in more roadshows and video messages. Besides, the other 38 star campaigners could have been deployed too. There was a clear lack of a joint campaign.
Thirdly, overconfidence. The BJD was so sure of winning that it put more emphasis on the margin of wins than actually on winning seats. Candidates were told that those who win with record margins would be felicitated by the CM. Voters were requested to vote for BJD in huge numbers so that new records could be created. This is still fine as a morale boosting strategy so long as realistic numbers are spoken about. But in constituencies where the candidates were not even in a position to win, the most influential leader of the party spelt out absurd numbers as the desired margin of victory. Even the candidates developed cold sweat hearing those numbers!
The BJD would do well to introspect and identify more chinks in its armour than these three. Naveen Patnaik’s 24 years as the CM of Odisha saw many positives and some negatives. The era of the enigmatic leader has ended and we thank him for all his positive contributions as a very popular Chief Minister.
