The Biju Janata Dal’s support for the NDA’s candidate in Thursday’s election of the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson has clarified two things with regard to politics in Odisha: the party looks at the Congress as its main rival, and any Opposition unity under the Congress will not be acceptable to the BJD.
“The question of whether the BJD would have agreed to support the Opposition’s candidate is largely moot, since the larger political situation had never favoured that outcome. After the NDA decided to project Harivansh of the Janata Dal (United), the decision was easier as BJD leader and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has a good equation with Nitish Kumar,” said a senior source in the party in Bhubaneswar.
Larger message
The source said it was a decision taken in the context of that one election, with the larger message about State rivalries. “There are at least seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the coastal areas [the BJD’s stronghold], where the Congress is putting up a tough fight. On the other hand, the BJP is absent from the coast, most of its support is based in western Odisha,” the source said.
“The party grew from its Opposition to the Congress, and the Congress remains our main rival,” a senior BJD MP said.
Post-poll affair
Party men also dismissed talk of an electoral understanding with the BJP, the former ally. The BJD, they said, would fight all Assembly and Lok Sabha seats (the two elections are held simultaneously in the State). “Any understanding and tie-up will be a post-poll affair,” said an MP in New Delhi.
For long, the BJD has maintained equidistance from the two national parties.
Clarity on who is its main threat in the State has allowed it to remain a force there. “Why should anything change,” the source said.