Ashutosh Mishra 
Bhubaneswar: Is former chief minister and Biju Janata Dal supremo Naveen Patnaik struggling to keep his party together? A public exchange with a party MLA has lent itself to rumours of his growing challenges.
Speculation on this has intensified in the wake of Patnaik’s reprimand to his party’s Champua MLA Sanatan Mahakud over his absence from the BJD legislature party meeting held a day ahead of the state legislature’s budget session on February 13.
When Patnaik, who is now in the role of leader of opposition, spotted Mahakud in the crowd of his party MLAs near the entrance of the legislature on the opening day of the budget session, he immediately inquired about his absence from the legislature party meeting. The former chief minister’s expression made it clear that he was not happy with his MLA. Mahakud, who contested and won the 2024 election on a BJD ticket for the first time, said that he had to stay away from the crucial party meeting because of his health.
The visuals showing the exchange between the two leaders made it clear that Patnaik was not satisfied with Mahakud’s explanation. He was seen saying something which was not clearly audible but which some local news channels have interpreted as a comment on Mahakud’s tilt towards the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP formed a government in the state for the first time last year.
Significantly, Mahakud hails from mineral-rich Keonjhar which is the home district of chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Of late there has been speculation about Mahakud’s growing closeness with Majhi though the MLA continues to deny the allegation. Mahakud had won the Champua seat earlier as well – in 2014 as an independent. He is understood to be of considerable influence in the area.
“As the leader of my party Naveen Babu has every right to inquire about my absence from the legislature party meeting. But people should stop reading too much into it. Similarly, I can meet the chief minister to discuss issues pertaining to my constituency. Coincidentally he also comes from Keonjhar district. He may have been elected on a BJP ticket but he is everyone’s chief minister,” Mahakud told local news channels.
Some other BJD leaders including former minister Pramilla Mallick, too, sought to dismiss the controversy surrounding Patnaik’s alleged reproach of Mahakud. “It’s good that our leader is keeping an eye on his MLAs and making inquiries about them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that,” she said.
But neither the opposition nor a section of BJD leaders appear convinced with this explanation given that the party has already lost two of its Rajya Sabha MPs to the BJP and dissidence is on the rise within the regional party which was thrown out of power in 2024 after ruling the state uninterrupted for 24 years. The first BJD Rajya Sabha member to quit and join the saffron camp was Mamata Mahanta, a Kudumi leader, who put in her papers towards the end of July last year, stating that she felt ignored within the party. In her resignation letter to Patnaik she said, “I feel that there is no requirement of the services of myself as well as my community in the BJD. Therefore I have taken this hard decision in public interest”. A day later she joined the BJP.
This was quickly followed by the resignation of another BJD Rajya Sabha member Sujit Kumar who also joined the BJP. Both Mahanta and Kumar were later sent to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha as BJP candidates.
Ever since, the BJD has been gripped by the fear of defections as voices of dissent are rising within the party. Former minister Amar Prasad Satpathy, who was denied a ticket in the 2024 elections, was among the first to question Naveen Patnaik’s electoral strategy and asked him to take moral responsibility for BJD’s defeat at the hustings. He then disassociated himself from the regional party, deciding not to renew his membership.
Several other leaders questioned Patnaik’s excessive reliance on his former private secretary, V.K. Pandian, who took voluntary retirement from IAS and joined the BJD to work full time for the party. Seen by many as the political successor of Patnaik, he practically became the face of the regional party’s campaign in the state but failed to counter the BJP’s propaganda against him. Targeting his Tamil roots, the BJP projected him as an outsider and accused him of running the state administration from behind Patnaik’s throne. The growing power of Pandian, who was called a ‘super-chief minister’, was a cause of resentment for a large number of BJD leaders but no one had questioned his authority while Patnaik was in power. Now, the situation is different.
With Pandian gone – he announced his retirement from public politics last year – the onerous task of running the BJD on a day-to-day basis has fallen on the shoulders of the 77-year-old Naveen Patnaik.
The BJP is ever alert. Talking to reporters here, senior BJP leader Jaynarayan Mishra said the BJD leadership was jittery as the party could break apart anytime. “The BJD will break the day BJP central leadership wants it to,” he remarked.
His party colleague and first time MLA Babu Singh said, “Naveen Patnaik is paranoid. He fears his own shadow these days. The BJD is going to split.” Leaders like Singh have indicated that a section of BJD leaders are in touch not only with the BJP but also the Congress which has appointed former union minister Bhakta Charan Das as its new state president.
Political analyst Shashi Kant Mishra sees the growing dissidence within the BJD as an ominous sign. “This can be exploited by the BJP which is looking for an opportunity to break the state’s most successful regional party. The only way Patnaik can keep his flock together is by inspiring confidence among them about the future of the party. This is not going to be easy,” said Mishra.