BJD STARES AT END, BATTLE LINE DRAWN BETWEEN NJD AND PJD

Congress calm, BJP on offensive as BJD goes defensive

By Our Correspondent / Source: www.indusvalleytimes.com Bhubaneswar, June 7: For Congress in Orissa, the situation remains the same – confusion reigns supreme in the party, crippling the potential leaders to raise vital issues that that may dent into the beleaguered BJD and its leadership. On the other hand, for the BJP, – the erstwhile “most” loyal partner of the BJD, –it’s perhaps the opportune time to rise from the ashes and assert itself in the state’s political firmament. And the party makes no mistake in accurately reading the current state of affairs and does its homework well to lay the foundation for a grand upheaval. Strikingly enough, the BJD that enjoyed overwhelming support of the people all these years on its promise of “clean” and “transparent” governance, now finds itself in a very awkward position. It promised crusade against corruption, but the Opposition is now out to crucify it (the BJD) on the same charge. It pledged good governance, but faces the charge of “misgovernace” or “bad governance.” It promised to protect jal, jamin and jungle (water, land and forest), but faces the allegation of mindless looting the same natural resources. It promised good leader, but questions have been raised about true leader. Where to go from now and how? The BJD is literally caught in catch22 situation. An enviable third term for Naveen Patnaik appears to have been a difficult phase to pass through. Most of the Biju BJD leaders are almost out of the party, while New Janata Dal – [NJD), (“New” may be translated as “Naveen” in Oriya, nothing to do with CM Naveen Patnaik) and Pyari Janata Dal [PJD] (“Pyari” may be translated into “People” or “popular” in English, nothing to do with BJD leader “Pyarimohan”) elements in the party are weighing their own strength to assert themselves in both the party forum and governance. A few seasoned politicians like A.U. Singhdeo, Prasanna Acharya Prafulla Ghadei who worked with Biju Patnaik have kept discreet silence, knowing well their voluntary service was not all solicited to bail out from the present crisis. The party now utterly lacks a credible voice and acceptable face to convince the people it once promised to serve. With the BJD house burning in internal fire of bickering, distrust and intolerance, the future holds interesting developments in store for the party and the possible ripples would certainly have its repercussion on state politics, maintain political observers. The BJP, under the stewardship of crafty Bijoy Mohapatra and Jual Orma, has prepared a blue-print for a grand burial of the “non-political” elements that have “ruined” the state in the past one decade. The party is compiling documents to wage sustained battle against such elements who focused more on self-accumulation of wealth at the cost of the state and common people. The Congress state unit, bereft of unit, stares helpless for an uncertain future. Lack of strong leadership and meticulous planning stands in the way of the party grabbing the opportunity for a return to mainstream politics. Source: www.indusvalleytimes.com