Will Be “Strong Opposition”: Naveen Patnaik’s Party After Big Poll Losses

Ex-Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik‘s Biju Janata Dal – which helped the Bharatiya Janata Party pass key bills in the Modi government’s first two terms, when it lacked numbers in the Rajya Sabha – seems now to have switched sides, and has labelled itself a “strong and vibrant opposition”.

“We will make the centre accountable on all issues. BJD MPs will raise all issues pertaining to the state’s development and the welfare of the people of Odisha. Many rightful demands haven’t been met,” the party quoted Mr Patnaik at a meeting of nine Rajya Sabha MPs in Bhubaneswar today.

“(We will) be the voice of 4.5 crore people of Odisha in Parliament…”

The “rightful demands”, the BJD’s statement said, ranged from ‘special category’ status for Odisha to housing and education for the poor, and from establishment of premier medical institutions like All India Institute of Medical Sciences – “… not satellite units” – to improved national highways.

The party also flagged national- and state-level social and economic issues, including the controversial topic of MSP, or minimum support price, for farmers, which has been a bone of contention between the opposition and the BJP since the violent protests of 2021/22.

The BJD has also declared it will “demand inclusion of 162 communities” in the state’s list of Scheduled Tribes, which it claimed it had been lobbying for “for many years”.

The BJD’s assertions comes after thumping wins by Mr Modi’s party in the May-June Lok Sabha and Assembly elections; in the former the BJP routed the BJD by winning 20 of the state’s 21 seats and, in the latter, Mr Patnaik won only 51 of 147 Assembly segments, down from 112 five years ago.

The BJP secured 78 – four over the majority mark – to form its first ever Odisha government.

The twin defeats left Mr Patnaik firmly on the backfoot in a state he has dominated since 2000; his BJD had won every Assembly poll and over 50 per cent of Lok Sabha seats in each general election.

In fact, the BJD has failed, for the first time, to win even one Lok Sabha seat.

The BJD, which had 12 Lok Sabha MPs in 2019, now has only nine in the Rajya Sabha. And that number will be cut in half in 2026, when four Odisha seats – now held by the BJD – fall vacant.

Earlier today BJD leader Sasmit Patra said party boss Naveen Patnaik had given “clear instructions to fight for the rights of the state’s people in Parliament”. “No more support to BJP, only opposition. We may go to any extent to protect the interests of Odisha,” he said after Mr Patnaik’s meeting.

READ | “No More Support To BJP, Only Opposition”: Biju Janata Dal MP

The about-turn comes after the BJD backed the BJP on various issues in the past 10 years.

In fact, support from the BJD and ex-Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy – his YSR Congress was ousted by the BJP’s ally, Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP – was crucial on several occasions, such as the election of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to the Rajya Sabha in 2009 and 2014.

In the recent election the BJD was not part of the Congress-led INDIA bloc, which united the opposition to stifle Mr Modi, the BJP, and the party-led National Democratic Alliance.

Mr Patnaik and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – who helped found the INDIA group before jumping ship to the NDA after internal rows – met in May last year but the BJD boss remained non-committal and passed off the meeting as one between “old friends and colleagues”.

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