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By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, February 18, 2017 : Stung by the BJP’s overwhelming performance in the first three phases of 3-tier panchayat polls, the ruling Biju Janata Dal [BJD] president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik is understood to have indicated strong action against party leaders for failing in the polls in their respective areas.

The party attributed overconfidence on the part of party members as the prime reason for losing ground in the polls so far. The ruling BJD has lost as many as 135 Zilla Parishad zones till now compared to the last poll in 2012 if the unofficial results in the last three phases is any indication.

“Overconfidence many a times leads to the downfall of a party. In some places our self-confidence was so high that it manifested as overconfidence. There are places where party functioning was not proper. The same functioning had brought us success hence we will review our performance after polls,” said BJD spokesperson, Amar Satpathy.

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BJD’s dominance has been seriously dented by the BJP in the former’s strongholds. In Bolangir, MP Kalikesh Singhdeo has failed to achieve cent percent results. Similarly, in Bargarh, MLA Debesh Acharya, MP Prasanna Acharya, MLA Sushant Singh have not been able to achieve the desired results. BJD’s performance in Sonepur has been a setback for MLA Padmanav Behera and the picture is also not so rosy for speaker Niranjan Pujari.

What has surprised the BJD leaders most is the fact that the BJP has been able to make inroads into the Jajpur and Binjharpur, much to the discomfort of energy minister Pranab Prakash Dash and former minister and MLA Pramila Mallick. Similarly, the saffron party has been able to stamp its footprint in BJD heavyweight and minister Damodar Rout’s constituency Jagatsinghpur.

“I manage the elections in my constituency myself. There were no management-related problems. I have never seen any rally or public meetings of BJP here. But how they were able to claim 2 zones is something which needs review. I will look into it and ensure that it will not be repeated in the Assembly polls,” said Rout.

The leaders also blamed Naveen’s noticeable lack of participation in the campaigning, discord within the party and mismanagement of the elections at a political level as the reasons behind its sub-standard results so far. Some even attributed Congress’ decline for the rise of the BJP.