By Nageshwar Patnaik in Bhubaneswar, February 16, 2017 : The ruling Biju Janata Dal [BJD] president and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik remains no more invincible if the Bharatiya Janata Party’s [BJP] performance in both the phases of panchayat polls in the state is any indication.

Banking on TINA [there is no alternative] factor, ‘clean image’, anti-Centre bash, a coterie of bureaucrats, memories of late Biju Patnaik and a host of populist schemes, Naveen had managed to hang to power for the last 16 years virtually unchallenged.

But the surge of BJP in the state is all set to shake the ruling BJD in general and Naveen in particular. In the last panchayat polls in 2012, the BJP had won only 36 seats while the BJD swept the polls with 652 seats, followed by the Congress with 128.

In this year’s panchayat poll, the BJP has won 66 out of 188 Zilla Parishad (ZP) seats in the first phase and 55 out of 166 ZP seats in the second phase. The trend is expected to continue even in the next three phases on 17, 19 and 21 February and that is what must be bothering Naveen.

The BJP has already begun celebrating no holds barred as the poll outcome so far way beyond its imagination.

The saffron party’s stunning show exposes too many chinks in Naveen Patnaik’s governance in the last two years. First of all, TINA factor appears to be vanishing with the emergence of union minister, Dharmendra Pradhan as a strong contender for coveted post.

The state that was seeing no option as the main opposition party Congress had failed to throw a leader as Naveen’s contender for all these years. Now the voters appear to see Dahrmendra as an emerging leader and he has also not disappointed them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also has not let go of the opportunity to prick holes with Naveen’s government. Coming down heavily on the ruling BJD, Modi said the gimmick of the regional party, which has been hoodwinking the people of Odisha, will not work this time as the outcome of the Panchayat polls has made it clear that the people are in no mood to believe in its misinformation campaign against the BJP government at the Centre.

Addressing an election rally in Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, Modi said despite the fact that the BJP organisation in Odisha is weak as compared to other states as only one leader is elected to the Parliament, the people of the state have finally reposed their faith on BJP and as a result of which the party has been able to garner massive win.

“I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Odisha, especially to the rural voters, for the unprecedented performance of my party in the rural elections,” the Prime Minister said in his address.

In the last two year, the BJD government is haunted with the continuing agony of multi-crore mining scam, chit fund scam, farmers suicides, malnutrition, Dana Majhi incident, Japanese encephalitis deaths.

What is worse is Naveen’s unstinted support to the hidden agenda of bureaucrats to call the shots at the expense of democratically elected people’s representatives. And the protracted indifference to the sensitive social and economic issues has begun to swing public perception against Naveen.

For instance, when the issue of Japanese encephalitis deaths of scores of children in the backward Malkangiri district hogged the media headlines, Naveen chose not to visit the region even once. In contrast Dharmendra promptly visited the region and extended all the assistance to alleviate the miseries of the victims’ families.

Even when the media exposed non-governance at the local level by highlighting the human issue of Dana Majhi – who had to carry his dead wife on his shoulder in the absence of any ambulance services, the BJD workers were vocal to intolerable limits. Not surprisingly, the BJP has won in 18 of the 36 ZP seats in Kalahandi district while the BJD is yet to open account there. On the contrary, the BJD had won 28 seats in the same district in 2012.

Continuing their strong hold in the western Odisha, the BJP has been able to taste pleasant victory at the ongoing polls in other districts which clearly indicates that people in Odisha want change and before 2019 Assembly elections, the panchayat poll could be the harbinger.