After poll debacle, BJD ponders on road ahead in Odisha | Bhubaneswar News
BHUBANESWAR: As BJD’s future is at a critical juncture in the wake of the poll debacle, the focus has shifted to the road ahead, especially amid concerns about party chief Naveen Patnaik’s advancing age and the mandate against key strategist V K Pandian.
As BJD prepares to assume the role of principal opposition party with 51 seats in the 147-member assembly, attention is also focussed on 77-year-old Naveen on whether he will lead the opposition or delegate the responsibility to another elected member of his party.
Political analysts apprehend BJD, which was founded in Dec 1997 and dominated the political sphere in Odisha by running the govt uninterrupted from 2000 to 2024, may face a serious crisis unless Naveen takes immediate course correction.
“Naveen is ageing and there is no clarity on his successor. His party’s chief strategist Pandian’s non-acceptance among voters not just cost the BJD dear in almost all seats, but also adversely impacted Naveen’s poll performance (he lost for the first time from Kantabanji assembly segment and won Hinjili by a narrow margin of 4,636 votes). The big question now is who will lead the party,” poll analyst Rabi Das said.
Recently, Naveen scotched speculations that Pandian was his political successor. In a cryptic reply, Naveen said the people of Odisha will pick the future leader of BJD.
Debasis Rath, another observer, believed that Naveen should immediately form a team of very senior leaders and brainstorm to bring the party organisation in order in the aftermath of the election defeat.
“There are some founding members of the party who have been sidelined following the dominance of several young faces in the party affairs. Naveen should discuss with them and chalk out the party’s future plan before BJD turns weak in the next few years,” Rath said.
BJD said Naveen will definitely conduct a postmortem on what went wrong. On Wednesday, some elected and defeated senior members of the party met Naveen at his residence before he tendered his resignation to the governor.
“We met Naveen babu at his residence. He will surely introspect on the reasons behind the party’s defeat. He asked us to be strong and advised us to keep up the good work for the people of the state,” Nayagarh MLA and senior member Aruna Kumar Sahoo said.
Veteran BJD member and Rairakhol MLA Prasanna Acharya said BJD is still strong and robust. Acharya denied the defeat had triggered panic in the party.
“BJD’s foundations are very strong. BJD is not just a party, it has turned into a social movement. Winning and losing are part of an election. This is democracy. The party will analyse and move ahead,” Acharya told TOI.
As BJD prepares to assume the role of principal opposition party with 51 seats in the 147-member assembly, attention is also focussed on 77-year-old Naveen on whether he will lead the opposition or delegate the responsibility to another elected member of his party.
Political analysts apprehend BJD, which was founded in Dec 1997 and dominated the political sphere in Odisha by running the govt uninterrupted from 2000 to 2024, may face a serious crisis unless Naveen takes immediate course correction.
“Naveen is ageing and there is no clarity on his successor. His party’s chief strategist Pandian’s non-acceptance among voters not just cost the BJD dear in almost all seats, but also adversely impacted Naveen’s poll performance (he lost for the first time from Kantabanji assembly segment and won Hinjili by a narrow margin of 4,636 votes). The big question now is who will lead the party,” poll analyst Rabi Das said.
Recently, Naveen scotched speculations that Pandian was his political successor. In a cryptic reply, Naveen said the people of Odisha will pick the future leader of BJD.
Debasis Rath, another observer, believed that Naveen should immediately form a team of very senior leaders and brainstorm to bring the party organisation in order in the aftermath of the election defeat.
“There are some founding members of the party who have been sidelined following the dominance of several young faces in the party affairs. Naveen should discuss with them and chalk out the party’s future plan before BJD turns weak in the next few years,” Rath said.
BJD said Naveen will definitely conduct a postmortem on what went wrong. On Wednesday, some elected and defeated senior members of the party met Naveen at his residence before he tendered his resignation to the governor.
“We met Naveen babu at his residence. He will surely introspect on the reasons behind the party’s defeat. He asked us to be strong and advised us to keep up the good work for the people of the state,” Nayagarh MLA and senior member Aruna Kumar Sahoo said.
Veteran BJD member and Rairakhol MLA Prasanna Acharya said BJD is still strong and robust. Acharya denied the defeat had triggered panic in the party.
“BJD’s foundations are very strong. BJD is not just a party, it has turned into a social movement. Winning and losing are part of an election. This is democracy. The party will analyse and move ahead,” Acharya told TOI.
