9th June 2024, Bhubaneswar : In the recently concluded Assembly & General Elections 2024 in Odisha the ruling Biju Janata Dal under the leadership of the veteran politician & 5 times Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has lost massively in Lok Sabha & Vidhan Sabha. No body including the opposition BJP has expected this to be happened. However we can say that people have made their mind to change the ruling dispensation. Odisha News Room has tried to research why the most successful party has been lost despite of many people centric initiatives:
- Arrogant leaders & Over Confidence : The behaviour of leaders became arrogant in the last few years. Also the ruling party had become overconfident in the last term and thought that whatever decision they take people will support that on the face value of Naveen Patnaik.
- Nepotism : People have disliked the growing Nepotism in the party where the tickets have been given to the son & daughters of the powerful leaders. There were many capable cadres working for the party since years but they have been denied the chance. Also they have always been demotivated to groom themselves as upcoming leaders.
- Overdependence on SHG Organisation : The party was over dependent on their SHG Organisation. It is evident that they have a great role in the last 3-4 terms. However there is time when people think of Change. Apart from Students, Youth & Mahila every other frontal organisation have not been groomed or given chance to build up. Also the Students & Youth were only utilised for Bike Rallies rather than grooming them with ethical values of the Party.
- Dissident Management : There were many aspirants for tickets but they were mishandled by the leaders after denial of tickets. Nobody was there to talk to them & take care of them. Even the decision to send the Organisation Secretary & Jajpur MLA Pranab Prakash Das to contest Loksabha from Sambalpur was a big mistake as he may have handled the aspirants properly. But according to some sources he was also not happy due to some differences with Pandian in ticket distribution. However people also say that he was the real person behind the growing Nepotism in the Party.
- Pandian Factor & Bureaucratic Model : The last & most important issue war Mr. Pandian’s campaigning alone without taking any local leaders along with him became the immediate cause in this defeat. People were having the perception that the MP’s & MLA’s didn’t have any power and they are just servants of some powerful bureaucrats. And the campaigning of Pandian proved their inefficiency. Even the opposition parties make this the issue and campaigned that Pandian – the Tamilian is the successor of Naveen Patnaik which directly hit the “Odia Asmita”. However in the last phase of Elections Mr. Patnaik have clarified that Pandian is not his successor and People of Odisha will decide who will be his successor but it was too late. People & Leaders also believed that he was the barrier in between them & their adorable Chief Minister.
There is a famous saying that “Change yourself in time or time will change you”. Now the grand regional party of Odisha Biju Janata Dal and it’s leaders have to introspect the reasons behind this defeat and to rebuild their plan to go ahead and have a strong comeback.
