While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Odisha six times since the BJP came to power in the state for the first time on its own last year, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit on Friday assumes significance given the evolving political scenario. The state’s main opposition party, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), is undergoing internal turmoil, and its supremo Naveen Patnaik is convalescing in Mumbai after spinal cord surgery.
In recent months, the Congress has been attempting to position itself as the principal opposition to the BJP. On July 11, Rahul Gandhi addressed a well-attended Congress rally in Bhubaneswar as part of the party’s “Save Constitution” programme. His last visit to Odisha was during the 2024 election campaign. At the rally, he launched a scathing attack on the one-year-old BJP government in the state, accusing it of exploiting Odisha’s poor for the benefit of a few billionaires.
Gandhi alleged that the current BJP regime, much like the previous BJD government, is “stealing the wealth of Odisha from the hands of the poor.” He stated, “On one side are the poor people of Odisha—Dalits, Adivasis, backward classes, farmers, and labourers—and on the other side are 5-6 billionaires and the BJP government. This is the real fight.” He asserted that only Congress workers, in alliance with the people of Odisha, could win this battle and restore justice and equality.
His remarks come at a time of heightened political tension in the state, with the BJP, BJD, and Congress vying for public support amid shifting political dynamics post the 2024 election results. Gandhi later addressed state Congress leaders at the PCC office.
As for the Congress’s position in Odisha, the party has faced continuous electoral defeats since the 1998 Lok Sabha elections. It has lost seven consecutive parliamentary polls and six assembly elections since then. Until 2019, Congress was the main opposition party in the state assembly. However, that year, the BJP overtook it to become the principal opposition.
In the 2024 elections—when Naveen Patnaik’s 24-year rule ended with the BJD’s defeat in both the assembly and Lok Sabha polls—the Congress maintained its third position but improved its tally in the assembly and retained its lone Lok Sabha seat, whereas the BJD lost all Lok Sabha constituencies. Looking back, the Congress had seen worse days; just before the 1971 elections, it had been pushed to fourth place in the assembly.
Odisha saw its first non-Congress government in 1967—a coalition of the national Swatantra Party and the regional Jana Congress. During that period, former chief minister Biju Patnaik broke away from Congress, taking a majority of MLAs with him to form the Utkal Congress, which became the main opposition after Patnaik fell out with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. However, in the 1971 general elections, Congress secured the majority of Lok Sabha seats and, within a year, returned to power in the state.
Historically, Congress held a vote share of about 30 per cent in Odisha, while Biju Patnaik, the most popular leader of the state, had a personal vote share of around 15 per cent. Whenever Congress lost credibility and Patnaik aligned with other opposition forces, he could defeat Congress and form the government.
After Biju Patnaik’s death in 1997, his son, Doon School-educated author Naveen Patnaik, entered politics almost accidentally. He was brought to Odisha to contest his father’s Lok Sabha seat in a byelection, despite having no political grooming. Naveen eventually formed the BJD, leveraging his father’s name, and allied with the BJP.
The BJD-BJP alliance swept the 1998 and 1999 Lok Sabha elections in Odisha. The discredited Congress regime, then grappling with major scandals and disasters—the brutal murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his sons, the rape of Anjana Mishra, and the devastating 1999 super cyclone that killed over 10,000 people—was voted out in the 2000 assembly election. Since then, Congress has remained out of power for more than two and a half decades.
Even after the BJD-BJP alliance ended following the 2008 Kandhamal communal riots—allegedly involving Sangh activists—the BJD alone continued to dominate all assembly and parliamentary elections from 2009 to 2019. Following its 2024 defeat, the Congress took nearly a year to realise that it might regain its past relevance. With the BJD’s dependence on Naveen Patnaik’s charisma and his declining health (he could not campaign across the state in 2024), the Congress now sees an opportunity to emerge as the BJP’s main opposition.
The BJP’s first year in power in Odisha has been rocky. Under the leadership of Dalit leader and former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das, who was appointed PCC president, the Congress has actively raised issues—from crimes against women to broader governance concerns.
During the last budget session, the Congress demonstrated unprecedented aggressiveness. Its protest in front of the assembly turned violent, making its presence felt not just in Bhubaneswar but across the state. According to a senior intelligence officer, since that session, the Congress has begun to be seen as the de facto main opposition, overtaking the BJD in assertiveness.
Former Congress MLA Mohammed Moquim, a contender for the PCC presidency, told THE WEEK, “Naveen Patnaik and the BJD cannot take on the BJP. Only the Congress can.” He argued that the BJD carries political baggage that the Congress does not.
Naveen Patnaik had announced plans to tour the state to boost the morale of his party and connect with the people, starting in late 2024—but it never materialised. Before the 2024 elections, the BJP and Modi, tapped into sentiments around “Odia asmita” (Odia pride). The perception that V.K. Pandian, a Tamil Nadu-born IAS officer and Patnaik’s close aide, might succeed him after quitting the civil service to join the BJD became a key campaign issue. Pandian was the the BJD’s star campaigner, leading rallies across the state. Despite Patnaik’s last-minute clarifications, this issue is widely believed to have contributed significantly to the BJD’s defeat.
Even after the electoral loss, Pandian remains close to Patnaik. His Odia wife, Sujata Kartikeyan, has now taken voluntary retirement from the civil service. With Patnaik, 79, recently undergoing surgery for cervical arthritis at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, his health has become a national topic. Modi called him in hospital, and leaders from all major parties, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, have extended their wishes. Patnaik is expected to return to Bhubaneswar on July 12.
Unlike other regional parties in India that are family-run, the BJD under Naveen Patnaik has had no designated family successor. His father, Biju Patnaik, never promoted his family in politics. Naveen himself was drawn into politics by his father’s party loyalists and national Janata Dal leaders. His family, based in Delhi, has historically stayed away from political life.
Now that Naveen is ageing, the question of his successor looms large. At one point, there was speculation about his nephew Arun Patnaik (son of Naveen’s elder brother Prem Patnaik) succeeding him, but no concrete developments followed. This uncertainty has created confusion within the BJD ranks. Some reports suggest that a dormant BJD could result in its supporters shifting to the Congress.
PCC president Bhakta Charan Das accused the BJP state government of attempting to sabotage Rahul Gandhi’s Friday rally in Bhubaneswar. He alleged a conspiracy behind the drivers’ strike that coincided with the rally. However, after an appeal from the Congress, the striking drivers offered a one-day reprieve, allowing the event to proceed. Mallikarjun Kharge accompanied Rahul on the visit.
Odisha BJP leaders responded sharply to Gandhi’s criticism. Law Minister Prithviraj Harichandan dismissed his claim that industrialist Gautam Adani was behind delays in the pulling of the rath during the Puri car festival, calling it misinformation. Revenue Minister Suresh Pujari labelled the Congress “the party that bloodied the Constitution,” while BJP vice president Biranchi Narayan Tripathy said Rahul’s visit was a political stunt aimed at reviving a struggling Congress, not a sincere effort to protect the Constitution.