The Battle for Orissa

IN THE second and perhaps most crucial phase of polling across 13 states in the country for 265 Lok Sabha seats, 55 per cent of the electorate across the nation turned out to vote, with Orissa registering a 62 per cent turn out, the highest in the country. Orissa voted for 11 Lok Sabha seats and 77 assembly seats today in the state’s second and final phase.


Naveen Patnaik, speaking to a TV News Channel today, predicted that regional parties stand to gain more from the polls than the BJP or the Congress. He said that no alliance with the Congress or the BJP was possible in Orissa citing years of corruption and nepotism at the hands of the Congress as well as the post-Kandhamal scenario where the BJP had rampantly followed an anti-secular agenda. Indicating his distaste for BJP's anti-Christian tirade, he said, ’Every bone in my body is secular.’ The BJP’s candidate for the Lok Sabha seat in Kandhamal, Ashok Sahu, was released from jail 5 days ago for making inflammatory speeches against Christians at an election rally.


In an indirect snub to many Prime Ministerial hopefuls, Patnaik also made it very clear that he has no prime ministerial ambitions for himself, saying he has not let his imagination 'run wild'. He said he would prefer a non-Congress, non-BJP led Government at the center while he concentrates on the development and welfare of the people of Orissa. Patnaik’s comments come at a time when coalition politics is an inevitable part of Indian politics today. In fact, his entire election campaign has been designed along the lines of Narendra Modi’s campaign in Gujarat’s Assembly polls last year. Patnaik has put forward the cause of Orissa, stressing how the state has been ‘done in’ by the center over decades of negligence and lack of economic support.


The mineral rich state has been at the center of protests against the South Korean steel giant POSCO’s proposed one billion-dollar investments that, if materialised, would be the single largest foreign direct investment in India. Such poll issues and much more have been the focus of Patnaik’s campaign in his home state. Whether the BJP-BJD fall-out will benefit the Congress is a ‘Catch 22’ situation for the BJP. Taking votes away from the BJD will benefit the Congress, further explaining the BJP’s anger on being abandoned by the BJD.


Speaking on the subject of seat sharing, the incumbent and much embattled CM said that he was ‘easy’ with the Left parties and the NCP and open to negotiations and alliances, contrary to what he said before, considering Sharad Pawar’s purported alliance with the UPA. Both the king-making parties,the Lalu-led RJD and NCP, recognise the importance of the Left in government formation and clearly, Patnaik is playing his cards deftly. Depending on the success of the BJD in the Lok Sabha polls, he could play a major role in the post-poll numbers game.


The polls in Orissa were relatively incident free, except for CEC reports of 3 cases where EVMs were stolen and booths were captured. An extreme heat wave with the mercury touching 43 degrees Celsius in the state capital of Bhubaneshwar claimed the lives of two election commission officials and a voter.