Naveen skips B’luru show, sticks to ‘equidistance’

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stayed away from the swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru on Wednesday despite being invited by none other than Kumaraswamy’s  father and former PM HD Deve Gowda. Does it mean the BJD is not in the grand alliance of the Opposition parties now at its nascent stage of formation, to ward off the BJP in 2019?

The BJP and the Congress are both principal challenges to the BJD in Odisha. Though the JD(S),TDP, Trinamool Congress, CPI (M), NCP, SP and BSP, whose leaders attended the May 23 meet, are not a force to reckon with in Odisha, that their coming together to thwart the BJP has a relevance for the BJD. But the presence of the Congress in the alliance is something the BJD may be averse to as CM Patnaik has all along claimed to have maintained equidistance from both the Congress and the BJP.

But is it the only reason that explains why the BJD chief skipped the Bengaluru show that, according to the opposition parties, was historic and laid the foundation for a Third Front?

Five CMs like Chandrababu Naidu, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Narayanswami and Pinarai Vijayan besides UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, BSP’s Mayawati, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, among other important leaders of half a dozen opposition parties were present. However, as proved by his strategy and way of handling issues, Patnaik is one who is quite adept in playing his cards close to chest.

At the same time, despite not showing as yet any national ambition, Patnaik’s strategy has been strengthening his foothold in Odisha and also keeping the one-upmanship of the BJD in Assembly and Parliament intact, which helps him call the shots in the national politics.

Needless to say, presently, the BJD’s big presence in the Lok Sabha gives it an edge and a bargaining power.

Patnaik since 2000 has made Centre-bashing his core principle for  self-perpetuation. Whether it the Congress-led UPA Government or the  present BJP-led NDA Government, nothing has stopped him from carrying out his tirade against the Centre and consequently, denting the image of the Congress and the BJP, by flagging up a host of issues from  special category State status to devolution of more funds to the current Mahanadi issue.

At different points of time, the SP, the Trinamool Congress and the Left parties, among others, have openly extended offers for taking the BJD in the loop for an alternative front in the national politics but in spite of his acrimony with the BJP in the State, Patnaik has neither turned down their offer nor accepted it openly, while at the same time, he has managed to maintain his cordiality with BJP leaders like LK Advani, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, etc. Petroleum Minister and BJP State face Dharmendra Pradhan may have appeared his alternative in terms of his increasing clout of late, but Patnaik has behaved in such a matured way that Pradhan still fails to rub shoulders with him and enjoy prominence on a par with him.

Hence, Patnaik might be biding his time for a clear choice so far as the Congress plus Third Front is concerned. The 2019 elections may not be far, but, given the fluidity of the political situation, the equidistance theory of the BJD is probably the best option for him for the time being.