ODISHA

Shot in the arm for Naveen Patnaik, BJD as party retains Bijepur

Odisha byelection BJD workers celebrate the party's win in Bijepur byelection, at the party office in Bhubaneswar | PTI

The victory of ruling Biju Janta Dal (BJD) in the byelection held in western Odisha’s Bijepur assembly constituency, with huge margin, has come not only as a wonderful gift for party supremo Naveen Patnaik who is all set to complete 18 years as chief minister on March 5, but also as a shot in the arm for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly elections next year. Both the polls will be held simultaneously in the state.

The party's victory in the bypoll, after the rural elections last year in which the BJP emerged as a challenger to the BJD, has indeed conveyed the message that Patnaik remains invincible in the state.

The byelection in Bijepur constituency of Bargarh district—necessitated after the demise of three-term MLA Subal Sahu of the Congress—was held on February 24, and the results were announced on Wednesday. His widow Rita Sahu had joined the BJD which fielded her in the byelection to take advantage of the sympathy factor. She trounced her nearest rival Asok Panigrahy of the BJP with a record margin of around 42,000 votes.

While the sympathy factory wasn't really significant in her victory, her win was virtually a referendum for the BJD as there was aggressive election campaign by the BJP, led by Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was assisted by a host of Union ministers, including Smriti Irani. Although party president Amit Shah was to campaign in the constituency, he couldn't make it.

For the BJD, Patnaik himself campaigned in the constituency for two days and the party had deputed a number of MLAs and ministers to campaign for its candidate. Only the state leaders campaigned for the Congress candidate Pranay Sahu.

In terms of resources, both the BJP and the BJD were in a more advantageous position over the Congress.

The election campaign had witnessed a few unpleasant episodes as well. There was a shoe hurled at the chief minister during one of his meeting. There was also an attack on state Labour Minister Sushant Singh’s brother Subrat Singh in which he was critically injured and his driver killed. Both these incidents helped the BJD to gain further support.

There was also an attack on residence the chief minister's private secretary V. Kartikeyan Pandian, IAS, in Bhubaneswar, allegedly by BJP workers who claimed that Pandian and others working in the CM's office were handling political matters which they were not supposed to do. Even Union minister Pradhan had made such allegations. However, the attack drew flak from all political parties. Besides, there were some cash seizure in Bijepur in which the BJP had come under suspicion.

Bijepur byelection was significant from various aspects. Firstly, this was the first assembly byelection after the 2014 general elections. The bypoll was crucial for all the three major parties—the BJD, the BJP and the Congress. The first two are in power at the state and the Centre respectively, and the Congress is the major opposition party in the state in terms of numbers, despite its continuous decline in the state. Besides, the Congress had won all three assembly elections in Bijepur since 2004. Even in 2014, BJD heavyweight Prasanna Acharya, who was the state finance minister, lost to the Congress there.

Besides, in the panchayat elections, held last year, the BJP had pushed the Congress to a poor third and had eaten into the vote share of the BJD, particularly in western Odisha, including Bargarh district. The BJD's victory in the Bijepur assembly bypoll, with a record margin, created the impression that the party can reverse the setback it suffered in rural elections in next year's general and assembly polls.

In fact, Patnaik had said the result of Bijepur byelection will affect the general elections. Since this is the last byelection in the state ahead of the next year's election, the BJD will be going to campaign, with their confidence intact.

The BJP, however, said the party's vote share increased in the bypoll, the result of which will not have any bearing on the general elections next year.

For the Congress, the defeat was disgraceful as it comes after three consecutive wins in the constituency and the party managed to get only around 10,000 votes.

Rita Sahu said she owes her success to the people of the constituency. Of course, Bijepur remains in the control of a family—after three terms of rule by Subal Sahu, his wife has the reins now.