Is Patnaik's BJD coming apart?

If not resolved quickly, the inner-party struggle may turn out to be a major headache for chief minister Naveen Patnaik who also heads the 13-year-old regional outfit.
Significantly, the open war between the two senior leaders has broken out at a time when the party in general and Patnaik in particular is passing through a difficult phase, thanks to opposition Congress’ and BJP’s attempt to corner the BJD government on various issues including the controversial private sector projects in the state.

What has become more embarrassing for Patnaik is the fact that both the warring senior leaders are known as his close associates. Mohapatra, a two time Rajya Sabha member is considered as the CM’s unofficial principal advisor while Rout, apart from being minister,  is also the senior vice-president of BJD. The spat has given an opportunity to Patnaik’s critics to remark that he is rapidly losing his grip over the administration as well as the party.  

The Mohapatra-Rout duel began a few days back when the former, soon after a party meeting, told the press that all the ministers would have to submit their performance reports to the party so that programmes can be chalked out to counter the opposition’s allegations.

Power centre

This was not acceptable to a senior minister like Rout who felt that Mohapatra was trying to project himself as a ‘power centre’ within the party. “If anybody is entitled to seek performance reports from the ministers, it has to be either the chief minister or the people who vote us to power,” Rout countered through a statement.

He also did not hesitate to remind Mohapatra indirectly that he was merely a bureaucrat when he (Rout) had already become a cabinet minister. The Rajya Sabha member was still a serving IAS officer in the state when Rout was a member of the then Janata Dal cabinet headed by late Biju Patnaik (father of Naveen Patnaik) between 1990 and 1995.

Mohapatra returned the salvo with an equally hard hitting statement refreshing the agriculture minister’s memory that he was advising his (Rout’s) boss during the earlier regime. The bureaucrat turned politician was referring to his stint as principal secretary to Biju Patnaik during those days.

Rout has finally submitted his performance report to the party and Mohapatra has refrained from making further comments against his bete noire following the reported intervention of Naveen Patnaik.

However, the inner party struggle within the regional outfit seems to be far from over as a separate fight has broken out between Rout and another senior leader of the party, former minister Bishnu Das.

Rout’s supporters in the coastal district had recently organised a rally in the district which was attended by the agriculture minister. However, the district BJD president Das described the move as an anti-party activity. His (Das’) supporters had also reportedly burnt the effigy of the agriculture minister while he was attending the meeting.

It is widely believed that Das who is also a member of the state legislative assembly had the backing of Mohapatra. The senior party leaders’ public bickering is already having an impact on the rank and file of the regional outfit. A few recent incidents in different parts of the state have indicated that the party workers have become as indisciplined as their leaders.