Away from the high-voltage campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra, Odisha is silently snowballing into an intense contest with Assembly elections scheduled alongside the Lok Sabha elections.
After a series of desertions — a rare phenomenon in the BJD — the latest to bite the bullet is the party’s sitting MP from Kendrapara, actor-politician Anubhav Mohanty, who, BJP sources said, is likely to join the saffron party “soon”. Ironically, in the last Lok Sabha polls, Mohanty had defeated BJP’s Jay Panda who had quit the BJD and jumped ship.
So why would a sitting MP of the state’s ruling party who defeated Panda by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes in 2019 quit his party?
“I hope this letter finds you in the best health and happiness. I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign from the Biju Janata Dal, effective immediately,” the Odia film actor said in his letter to Odisha Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik.
Mohanty is the third BJD leader to have quit the party on Saturday. Earlier in the day, former Bhubaneswar (North) MLA Priyadarshi Mishra and Korei legislator Akash Das Nayak deserted the BJD.
Priyadarshani Mishra didn’t waste any time before going to the BJP, while Mohanty and Nayak — both actors-turned-politicians — are expected to walk into the saffron fold any moment, with a message from the BJP informing of the joining of more “eminent personalities”.
Mohanty recently lent his voice for a Hanuman Chalisa rendition that is being recorded by Sony Music and is about to hit the market. A BJP state leader joked: “It was all there for everyone to see. It didn’t happen overnight.”
Most of Odisha’s BJP leadership is still cautious about coming on record after getting a strong reprimand from Amit Shah for their constant comments during negotiations with the BJD.
Mohanty becomes the third sitting MP to have quit the party this poll season. A couple of days earlier, in what is seen to be the most high-profile catch by the saffron party in Odisha, Bhartruhari Mahtab, six-time Cuttack Lok Sabha MP and founding member of the BJD, joined the saffron fold.
Mahtab joining hands with the BJP signalled a clear political shift in the coastal state that has been ruled by Patnaik for over two decades. Mahtab hasn’t lost the Cuttack seat since 1998. He defeated BJP’s Prakash Mishra by a huge margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It was a psychological one-upmanship of the BJP just ahead of the election in Odisha where the party will go to the public with the message that even its founding members can’t trust in the future of the BJD.
The BJP dealt another psychological blow to the BJD in quick succession. Popular Odia actor Arindam Roy, a close relative of BJD organizing secretary PP Das, joined the saffron party.
The third MP who left the BJD is Sidhant Mohapatra. Standing next to former colleague Jay Panda, Mohapatra said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s double engine government has to be brought in Odisha.”
The ripples from his shock switch have been felt not just in Odisha, but also in adjacent West Bengal where his former wife and popular tele-presenter Rachana Bandopadhyay is being fielded on a TMC ticket against BJP’s Locket Chatterjee from Hoogly. Mohapatra made the first call to send his best wishes to Locket, prompting the BJP’s Hoogly candidate to use it against her opponent.
In the beginning of March, BJD MLA Premananda Nayak and two former legislators, including former BJD MLA from Dhamnagar Rajendra Das, joined the BJP in Odisha.
Will these strategic moves help the BJP electorally in Odisha? A senior leader spun the Trinamool Congress’s 2021 campaign slogan to give a cryptic answer: “Mili Misi Khela Habe (together, the game will be played).”
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