Patnaik posters, Modi pics: As local body polls near, BJP, BJD fight over credit

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and the state unit of the BJP recently had a massive showdown over the Covid-19 vaccination programme. The supporters and activists of the BJP, the principal Opposition, stormed into several vaccination centres in different district headquarters and other urban pockets tearing and destroying posters, banners and leaflets carrying photos and Covid-related messages of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Charging the ruling regional outfit with trying to make political capital out of the Covid vaccination drive, the enraged BJP workers and leaders demanded that the posters and hoardings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi should also be on display in vaccination centres as the Covid vaccines were being supplied by the central government and that too free of cost.

The BJD retaliated with some hard-hitting statements issued by the party spokespersons. “When the entire country is reeling under the dangerous second wave of the current pandemic and worried common citizens are making long queues to get themselves vaccinated as quickly as possible, the BJP sent its ‘goondas’ and ‘goondies’ to the vaccination centres to create disturbances and panic. The people of the state will never forgive the saffron party for its Taliban-like behaviour,” quipped BJD spokesperson Sulata Deo. The BJP workers and activists who went on the rampage in vaccination centres included many women members of the party.

Senior BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty complained about the lack of quid pro quo from the BJP over credit-sharing. “Certificates issued by the central government to the citizens who got themselves vaccinated carry the photo of PM Modi. A number of non-BJP parties in other states had raised their objections to this. But BJD did not utter a single word on the issue. By sending its rank and file to destroy the posters and banners carrying the chief minister’s photographs and messages, the BJP demonstrated its mean and unfair attitude,” Mohanty said, adding that during a pandemic, a chief minister has every right to communicate with his people about the gravity of the situation through posters and banners. The exercise, he said, was only aimed at alerting people and making them understand the importance of Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination.

Observers, nevertheless, believe that the confrontation between the two former allies over credit-sharing for Covid vaccination would not have taken place but for the forthcoming panchayat and municipal elections in the state. The two important polls are expected to be held as soon as the pandemic situation subsides. The actions of both the parties – the BJD’s decision to put up posters and banners carrying Patnaik’s photos and messages in vaccination centres and the BJP’s violent opposition to the move, besides its demand for installation of posters carrying PM Modi’s photos – clearly demonstrate that the former friends are keen to make the Covid vaccination programme an important issue during the campaign for the local body elections.

Both the elections, which will be first major pan-Odisha political event after the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, are going to be crucial for BJD and the BJP. For the 24-year-old ruling regional outfit, which holds the record of not having lost a single major poll since its birth in 1997, the rural and urban local body elections will be an acid test, because they will confirm if party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s personal popularity remains intact or not.

The 75-year-old five-time chief minister’s personal image and popularity has played a key role in the BJD’s success in all the previous electoral battles in the state, be it elections to the Lok Sabha, Assembly or to rural and urban local bodies. The success in the two polls will also help BJD to prepare for the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, when it will be pitched against the BJP and the Congress, the third major political force in the state.

As for the BJP, though it was defeated by the BJD, the party had managed to improve its position during the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. It had won eight of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, compared to only one in 2014. Similarly, in the Assembly polls, though the party managed to win only 23 seats, compared to the BJD’s 112, it managed to edge Congress out to the third position in the House for the first time and wrest the chair of the leader of the opposition from Congress, which won only nine seats. The panchayat and municipal elections will be a test for the BJP as they will show if the strength and popularity of the party has gone up or down since 2019.

The party’s performance will be keenly watched particularly in western Odisha as it had managed to secure a clean sweep in the region in 2019 so far as Lok Sabha seats go. All the five parliamentary constituencies – Kalahandi, Bolangir, Sambalpur, Bargarh and Sundergarh had gone in favour of BJP nominees. Moreover, during the last panchayat elections, the party had displayed a better performance in western Odisha compared to other regions of the state. Hence it will be a prestige issue for the BJP to perform well in western Odisha, which was once known as a saffron citadel. The party’s preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls will certainly be impacted if it performs poorly in the local body elections, particularly in the western districts.