Bhubaneswar: A day after BJP swept both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Odisha, former MP Tathagata Satpathy on Wednesday attributed BJD debacle to Parikrama Prakalpa of Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.
“…I primarily think that whoever touched Lord Jagannath has had to suffer. The way the Puri Temple was disturbed and the Parikrama Project was taken up, that was one reason why the blessing was withdrawn from the edifice that the BJD had become. BJD is not someone’s private party, it was the aspirations and hopes of the Odia masses that had bestowed their blessings on that system, on that party. They could have utilised it even further by being more positive towards the state. But they were going ahead politically, compromising at every stage to safeguard their own interest, that backfired…” he told the ANI.
The BJD, however, had shown the heritage corridor project as one of its many success stories under the Naveen Patnaik regime while accusing BJP leaders of the state of attempting to stall it.
Satpathy further asserted that the party did not belong to an individual. “The way the BJD was being manipulated, the way all political elements were driven out, the way one former civil servant thought that he could take over the party by controlling one individual, that party does not belong to an individual, but to the entire Odia race.”
He, however, said that the BJD will reinvent itself, maybe the name will change. “The political drive of the Odia race will remain and it will be successful in the future. Let’s not write off the party or the organisation, instead we have to write off some individuals, who are of no consequence for the people of Odisha. They did not approve the funny type of behaviour that was shown to them. It is not money that can buy people here. They look for love and genuineness. They rejected the way they were behaved with, They did not want to deal with that kind of a person…,” he added.
On the CM candidate of BJP, Satpathy said that it is unlikely to that party would put any of its MPs at the helm of affairs here as it could then decrease its number in Parliament. “I think the BJP has enough young people with bright ideas among its newly-elected MLAs and it would be a good change for the state,” he said, while pushing for a regime change every five year.
The BJP had won a majority by winning 78 of 147 Assembly seats in Odisha, the result of which was declared on Tuesday, while the BJD, which had been in power since 2000, was reduced to 51 seats. The Congress won 14 seats while one went to CPI (M).
While 3 BJP rebels emerged victorious in the election from their respective constituencies, one has returned to the saffron fold.
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