Potential friends to bitter foes – BJD, BJP covered the whole spectrum in Odisha

The simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections began in Odisha with an alliance between the BJP and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) seemingly on the cards. It ended on a note of bitter exchanges between the two main contenders, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi making personal remarks against BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the final leg.

Will this be the push that takes the BJP over the finishing line in the state polls, in its bid to dislodge from power the 24-year-old Patnaik government, or will it backfire in a state where the CM still remains popular – this will be the question that will be decided on June 4.

After the seat talks between the two parties – which were allies from 1998 till 2009 – fell through, the BJP put all its eggs in the “Odia asmita (pride)” basket, besides promising “parivartan (change)”. With the BJD having the advantage of being the state-bred regional party, the BJP harped on the exponential rise of Patnaik’s close confidant and bureaucrat-turned-politician V K Pandian, and on his Tamil origins. From the missing keys of the Ratna Bhandar (treasury) at Puri’s Jagannath Temple, to the reins of power in the state, all lay in Tamil Nadu, the BJP claimed.

More than the issues of development and governance, it was this that the BJP’s entire campaign evolved around. In his very first meeting in Odisha, on May 6, Modi set the tone by saying that a BJP CM would take oath in the state on June 10. Pandian responded by saying that Patnaik would not only return as CM but be sworn in on June 9.

Besides Modi, Union minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda, the BJP wielded Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, known for his fiery, polarising speeches, to address nearly two dozen rallies in