When Odisha heads to polls on May 20, all eyes will be on the two assembly seats where Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is contesting. Patanik's assembly constituencies are Hinjli in southern Odisha's Ganjam district and Kantabanji assembly segment in western Odisha’s Bolangir district.
Patnaik has continuously won from Hinjli since 2000 and he is contesting from Kantabanji for the first time. In 2019 too, he contested from a second seat besides Hinjli – the Bijepur assembly segment in western Odisha’s Bargarh district. Perhaps the message was meant to counter growing clout of BJP in western districts. Though Patnaik had won from Bijepur back then, he retained his original Hinjli seat. Bijepur later came back to the BJD kitty in during byelection.
Out of the 28 assembly seats, BJD had won 20 seats in 2019. This time BJD claims they will do better than 2019 in first phase of the polling. Pandian said, “As I have always been saying with conviction, BJD is sweeping the elections, whether it is the first, second, third or fourth phase. To be precise, in the first phase, BJD will win 24 seats out of the 28 seats. Last time, we had got 20 seats. This time there is people’s josh and Naveen Babu’s wave, so we should be winning more than 24 seats out of the 28 seats. In two seats, there is competition with Congress and in one seat with BJP. In Lok Sabha also, we are going to do much better than last time.”
“The love and affection of the people, which is very humbling, give us a lot of confidence. People leaving their work, waiting for hours under the sun and standing on the road is something that is very humbling. It gives us the strength to fight for the cause of Odisha,” Pandian added.
Odisha has a total of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 147 assembly segments. On Monday Bargarh, Sundergarh (ST),Bolangir, Kandhamal and Aska Lok Sabha seats and 35 assembly segments will go for voting.
In 2019, BJP had won the first three while the last two seats had gone for BJD. Out of the 35 assembly seats going for polling on Monday, BJD won 27 last time while BJP clinched four, Congress three and CPI(M), with Congress backing, grabbed one seat. On May 13, Berhampur, Koraput, Nawarangpur and Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituencies witnessed elections along with 28 assembly seats. In 2019, Berhampur and Nawarangpur had gone to BJD kitty, while BJP claimed Kalahandi. Koraput tribal seat was the only seat where the Congress had won.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Odisha on Sunday to campaign in the remaining constituencies heading for polls on May 25. He was scheduled to attend a meeting of party leaders at the BJP state office in Bhubaneswar, following which he stay at the Raj Bhavan. On Monday morning, he will have a darshan of Lord Jagannath in Puri, followed by a roadshow there. His previous roadshows were held in Bhubaneswar and Bargarh. After Puri visit, the PM will address BJP rallies at Angul and Cuttack.
Most of the senior leaders of BJP, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, BJP National President J.P. Nadda, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and MP Hema Malini, have been campaigning in the state. During their speeches, the BJP leaders have reiterated Modi's claim that the party will form a government in the state this time and that a BJP chief minister will take oath on June 10. Shah on Friday claimed at a party rally in Rourkela that BJP will win 15 Lok Sabha and 75 assembly seats in Odisha.
Patnaik has slammed BJP, saying the saffron party has been daydreaming since long and that it will not be able to come to power in the next 10 years, let alone June 10. The BJD supremo has also scoffed at the promises made by the BJP chief ministers and Union cabinet ministers visiting Odisha, saying their claims of making Odisha number one are met with laughter by people of the state. He took a dig at Sarma, asking him to focus on addressing the needs of his own state instead of making ambitious promises in Odisha. He also criticised selective appearance of certain BJP chief ministers and Union cabinet ministers visiting Odisha, referring to them as mere ‘political tourists’ who only show up during election times.
After Modi's roadshow in Bhubaneswar. Patnaik also conducted a roadshow in the state capital. He has been covering the state in phases by addressing election rallies, including a massive meeting on May 17 in Sambalpur, where Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate. BJD has fielded its strongman Pranab Prakas Das, the party's organisational secretary, in the seat.
On May 16, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi campaigned at Bolangir. Though he criticised BJP, he did not speak against BJD this time. But during his first visit on April 28, he had attacked both BJD and BJP in his rally at Salepur in Cuttack district.
Recent statements by Shah and Nadda also assume political significance. He said that ‘we have no issue with Naveen Babu’, adding that the issue was governance. His criticism was meant towards V.K.Pandian, the IAS-turned-BJD leader who is now party’s star campaigner. Nadda also said the people of Odisha should give Patnaik some rest and hand over the reins to BJP.
BJP has sharpened its attack on Pandian during the election season but despite his Tamil background, the BJD leader is countering the saffron party in his Odia speeches and statements. BJP's soft approach towards Patnaik and Rahul not attacking BJD can be seen in the context of post-poll scenario at the Centre in case of a hung Lok Sabha. BJD, on its part, has always claimed equal distance from both BJP and Congress. However, during Modi regime, it has supported BJP at the national level on specific issues. But this time BJP and Modi have turned against BJD.
