Berhampur Battle: Will Modi Push Help Pradeep Panigrahi To Sail Through?

Berhampur/Bhubaneswar: Will Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahi, once a close aide of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, help BJP open its account in South Odisha with a victory in Berhampur Lok Sabha seat? Or, will Bhuru Baxipatra, former state vice president of the saffron party, get second time lucky under the BJD banner?

This constituency is witnessing a battle of narratives set to tone by none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as the two known faces are seeking votes under different party symbols this time.

MODI PUSH TO PRADEEP 

The clarity in BJP’s focus and intentions were seen when two of its top leaders began their campaign trail in Odisha from Berhampur. While party national president J P Nadda cautioned the people in Odisha about an attempt to “bring outsiders” to the helm in the government, Modi went a step ahead and invited the people to ‘BJP government formation’ in Bhubaneswar on June 10 while promising that a daughter or son of the soil will be sworn in as its CM.

“In Odisha, BJD is like a setting sun. Congress is past and people are assured about the BJP. BJP has come with the hope of a new dawn,” he said in an attempt to upset BJD calculations in its own bastion, Ganjam.

Modi’s government formation narrative has seemingly enthused and energised the party rank and file. It can also influence the fence sitters, who are yet to make up their minds on who to vote. This apart, it can
influence the bureaucracy/official machinery from siding with the BJD and ensure their neutrality and also impact donors and money bags from supporting only the ruling party.

Pradeep has himself asserted that Lotus is set to bloom in the state and Modi’s rally has put a stamp on it.

Besides Berhampur LS seat, the BJP is also hoping to win a few assembly seats in Ganjam, which sends 13 MLAs to the state Assembly, the highest for any district in the state, by harping on its ‘Odia asmita’ plank and striking a chord with the people of the district who identify BJD leader and 5T chairman V K Pandian as a former collector with roots in Tamil Nadu.

NAVEEN’S ‘DON’T BLESS THE CROOKS’ APPEAL

The BJD has been pushing anti-people and person with criminal background narrative against Pradeep while accusing him of threatening government officials, ASHA and members of Mission Shakti Mission, to spoil his chances in the upcoming polls.

During an election rally at Kanishi near Berhampur on Thursday, Naveen urged people to bless only honest candidates and not crooks, which was seen as an indirect attack on the BJP MP candidate from Berhampur, who is out on bail after spending seven months in jail for allegedly deceiving youths with false job promises. “You bless me, cast votes on conch symbol, bless the MP and MLA candidates of the Biju Janata Dal, bless the honest candidates, but don’t bless the crooks.”

Senior BJD leader VK Pandian also asserted that the party will win 90% seats in the first round elections and appealed the voters to help it sweep the polls. In a show of strength, he also held a mega roadshow covering a distance of around 13 km in Gopalpur under Berhampur parliamentary segment.

BATTLE OF VENGEANCE

The language of  personal revenge rather than politics has dominated campaigning in Berhampur. While BJD has been spewing venom against Pradeep, whom it expelled from the party in 2020 on anti-people charges, by calling him a criminal, the former has been directly targeting Naveen and Pandian over BJD government’s closed coterie to which even ministers and MLAs have no access. Calling it ‘arrogant’ and ‘autocratic’, he has vowed to oust the Naveen government from Odisha in the 2024 elections.

The Berhampur LS seat comprises five Assembly segments in Ganjam and two in Gajapati. Pradeep enjoys good support in both the districts since he was tasked with handling the organisation while he was the BJD. With him in its fold, the saffron party is hoping to put a halt to BJD’s winning spree by making inroads into its citadel.

Pradeep is pitted against Bhrugu, who earned a ticket from the BJD within hours of snapping his 23-year-old ties with the BJP after it preferred the former over him. Bhrugu lost the 2019 elections from Berhampur to BJD’s Chandra Sekhar Sahu by a margin of 94,844 votes.

As the BJD MP candidate, he has been intermittently firing salvoes at BJP’s ‘Odia Asmita Bubble’ while criticising it for having fielded tainted candidates from rival parties. He also described the visits by central BJP leaders to Odisha as an attempt to encourage its leaders and workers, who are dejected at the prospect of losing the elections.

VOTE CUTTING

The confusion among the electorate is palpable. Pradeep, who once managed political affairs on behalf of Naveen in latter’s Hinjili Assembly seat, is now seeking votes as a BJP candidate, while Bhrugu has entered the poll fray for the second consecutive time blowing conch instead of holding Lotus in his hand. In this direct clash between BJP and BJD, it is difficult to ascertain whose vote share is likely to get affected in the May 13 polls.

Congress, on its own part, has fielded its youth leader Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik from the seat.

PRESTIGE FIGHT

Ganjam has been a BJD stronghold with Naveen representing Hinjili Assembly constituency in the district for five consecutive terms. In 2019, it won 12 of 13 seats with Congress a solitary seat in Ganjam. The Conch party has also been winning the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat for the last 3 elections and also successively triumphing in Aska parliamentary seat, the other Lok Sabha constituency in Ganjam.

In Berhampur parliamentary constituency, the BJD has MLAs in Berhampur, Chhatrapur, Digapahandi and Chikiti Assembly segments. Mohana is with Congress and Paralakhemundi with BJP while its MP candidate Pradeep represents Gopalpur.

In 2019 elections, the BJP also put up a good fight against BJD in Gopalpur, Bhanjanagar, Polasara and Sorada in Ganjam and finished second with the loss margin varying between 2,000 and 13,000.

With a key player of BJD now steering the BJP vessel propelled by Modi waves, can Pradeep turn the tide against BJD in its own bastion? Or, can BJD’s strong organisation and Naveen’s guarantee continue to sway voters in its favour and thwart BJP’s ‘Vijay Sankalp Yatra’ in Berhampur?