Insight Bureau: When it comes to election strategy, no political party seems to match the BJD in Odisha. The party set a new record by winning 766 out of 852 Zilla Parishad Zones in the recently concluded Panchayat Polls while BJP had to be content with 42 seats only.
The ruling BJD had undertaken several course corrections measures in the western districts of the State apart from Mayurbhanj and Malkangiri that made huge electoral gains.
The same “course correction” should be adopted by the BJP in order to regain its lost position and win people’s trust in Odisha.
There is huge resentment in the party after the humiliating loss in the Panchayat Polls and efforts are being made to draw attention of the central leadership. BJP Karyakartas have started airing their opinion seeking a massive overhaul to boost the party’s prospects in the State.
Lack of a good, inspiring face in the Odisha unit of BJP, crisis in grassroots management, massive infighting, and failure to counter the effective use of administrative machinery in favour of BJD are few reasons behind the severe debacle of BJP, they believe.
It’s high time BJP National President JP Nadda intervenes and completely revamps the State team to ensure discipline and motivate the Karyakarts, they say.
The BJP had emerged as the State’s main opposition party when it bagged 297 Zilla Parishad seats in 2017. However, the tally declines to mere 42 in 2022 polls, just better than its tally of 36 in 2012.
To regain that lost ground, the BJP has to change its organisational structure by roping in some of the senior leaders as in-charge of the districts, says one BJP leader on the condition of anonymity. “The present leaders (won’t take the names) have no acceptability even within the party, forget about their pan-Odisha image. We need a strong, vocal leader with no-nonsense approach from the second generation to give a new lease of life to BJP in Odisha,” he added.