Will Prime Minister Narendra Modi Be Able to Win the Kalinga Poll Battle?

Bhubaneswar: Writhing in anger since 2009 when the BJP was shunted out of an 11-year-old alliance by Odisha chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik after being branded as “communal,” the BJP has been persistently trying to take a sweet revenge on him. However, all its efforts have gone in vain as the CM, who wears an image of “clean” and “transparent” government, repulsed the former’s attempts with consummate ease.

The BJP has never come closer to the BJD in any electoral exercises since 2009. Its best performance was in 2019 when it won 23 of the 147 assembly seats and eight of the 21 Lok Sabha berths in the state. In every election, Naveen managed to hold on to his ground, largely because of a strong organisational base.

Home minister Amit Shah who headed the BJP as its president in 2019 had literally to surrender before Naveen Patnaik as he saw his target of winning 120 assembly seats falling flat. The party could win only 23 seats.

Realising that the Naveen is well-entrenched in his den with dedicated cadres and a solid women vote bank of 70 lakh women, Prime Minister Narendra Modi this time took the burden of waging the battle against the former on his own shoulders.

Before hitting the campaign trail in Odisha, the PM told reporters in Delhi that Odia Asmita (pride) was in danger under Naveen Patnaik’s regime and it needed to be salvaged by the BJP.

The entire campaigning process saw PM Modi and his “most trusted” team members like Sunil Bansal, Bhupenedra Yadav and Vijayapal Singh Tomar chalking out the strategies for the party. BJP national president JP Nadda, home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and Chief Ministers of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan along with many central leaders literally made carpet bombing across the length and breadth of the state by addressing dozens of public meetings, leaving little time for the BJD to put up a strong wall of defence in place.

Various pollsters have predicted that the BJP would to win14 to 18 Lok Sabha seats of the total 21 in the state. Similarly, the pollsters have also predicted the BJP to win 62 to 80 assembly seats of the total 147.

It now needs to be seen if the PM successfully wins the Kalinga war. In the past, Odisha was known as Kalinga.