A rising popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi against a fading Naveen Patnaik; a scattered BJD campaign that failed to paint the BJP as a threat over five years; and an array of senior BJP leaders that held their own—there were several factors that saw the BJD fritter away their advantage in the Lok Sabha in Odisha, helping the BJP to an unprecedented win. In results declared on Tuesday, the national party increased its tally from the 8 seats it won in 2019 to an unprecedented 19 of the 21 seats on offer in the state, reducing the BJD to a solitary seat.
Senior BJD leaders admitted that the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had skyrocketed over the past five years, juxtaposed with the loosening control of chief minister Naveen Patnaik. “Over the past five years, there was the sense that Naveen Patnaik was losing strength. The people of Odisha respect him, but he was visibly ageing, and had handed over control to Pandian. With no other local leader of similar heft, people turned to Prime Minister Modi,” one BJD leader said.
Crucially, with the BJD backing the Centre on crucial legislations in parliament over the previous term, and an alliance between the two primary players in the state much talked about in the months running up to the polls, BJD leaders said that there was little effort to position the BJP as an opposition. “Over the last weeks, we tried to paint the BJP as hegemonic and a threat to Odisha, but clearly it wasn’t enough,” the leader said.
Senior BJP leaders said that unlike the BJD, which focused on retaining power at the assembly level, they made concerted efforts to increase their Lok Sabha footprint, cognisant that it was key to their national ambitions. “This was displayed in the strength of our candidates. Dharmendra Pradhan, who is an important union minister, Baijayant Panda and Sambit Patra, who is a national face, all fought concerted campaigns that spanned months if not weeks, and won,” a senior BJP leader said.
{{/usCountry}}Senior BJP leaders said that unlike the BJD, which focused on retaining power at the assembly level, they made concerted efforts to increase their Lok Sabha footprint, cognisant that it was key to their national ambitions. “This was displayed in the strength of our candidates. Dharmendra Pradhan, who is an important union minister, Baijayant Panda and Sambit Patra, who is a national face, all fought concerted campaigns that spanned months if not weeks, and won,” a senior BJP leader said.
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