Bhubaneswar: The election of railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to the Rajya Sabha from Odisha with the support of Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal has blown BJD’s claim of maintaining equi-distance from BJP and Congress to smithereens. This was the second time that Vaishnaw, a bureaucrat-turned politician who embraced the BJP apparently impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, got elected to the parliament’s Upper House from Odisha with BJD’s backing.

His election this time, however, is more significant because it comes just ahead of the general elections which the BJP and BJD will be contesting as the main rivals in Odisha. Lok Sabha and assembly elections were held in Odisha simultaneously  in 2019 and they will be held together again this time. For a ruling party to support the candidature of a person belonging to its rival party just ahead of general elections is not only surprising but can also be extremely risky. That, too, in a situation where it had the strength to win all the three Rajya Sabha seats at stake in the state.

But the chief minister chose to sacrifice the third seat and gifted it to his main rival. The ruling BJD sought to justify its support for Vaishnaw saying he would work for the development of railways and IT sector in Odisha. But this hardly fooled anyone.

It is now an open secret that even though BJD and BJP happen to be rivals in the state the chief minister enjoys the best of relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and most of the senior central BJP leaders. While the Prime Minister scrupulously avoids targeting him even in his election rallies Patnaik has ensured his party’s support for the BJP-led NDA inside the parliament on the most crucial issues. His support is vital for the NDA which lacks a majority in the Rajya Sabha. This has been going on right since 2014 when Modi became Prime Minister for the first time.                   r

Patnaik’s BJD backed the controversial Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 helping the NDA get it passed in the Rajya Sabha. Similarly, Patnaik was among the first chief ministers to welcome demonetisation – a move slammed by the Congress and several other parties. Odisha’s chief minister was also among the few regional satraps to extend support to the controversial Goods and Services Tax (GST) when it faced flak across the country.

More recently the BJD has lent support to the NDA inside the parliament on issues such as scrapping of article 370, Citizenship Amendment Bill and Triple Talaq Bill. There are also other instances of BJD favouring the BJP and the NDA. For example, the BJD backed BJP’s  candidates in two consecutive presidential elections—first it supported Ram Nath Kovind and then it backed Draupadi Murmu. While the support for the latter can be understood as she hails from Odisha it is not easy to justify its backing of Kovind.

This has made a mockery of BJD’s avowed policy of keeping equal distance from Congress and BJP. Though ruling BJD leaders argue that their support for the BJP has always been issue based and to ensure the best interests of the state, the argument does not hold. The BJD seems to be practising the politics of convenience with least respect for principles.

The chief minister keeps changing his stand according to the situation. Patnaik, in fact, seems to have a flexible policy towards the BJP – attacking and supporting it in turns with an eye to political gains. For example, in the past he once stepped up his attack on the issue of Mahanadi and the demand for special category status for Odisha. This was done because it suited him to whip up popular sentiments in the state over these issues close to the elections.

It even  organised a Mahanadi yatra along the banks of the river. With public meetings in around 15 districts, the sole target of the Yatra was the BJP  which it accused of siding with the then BJP government in Chhattisgarh which had unilaterally constructed dams and barrages upstream of the river, thus adversely affecting its flow on the Odisha side.

The special category status also became a major poll plank for his party in the general elections. Patnaik has been trying to keep the issue alive though he no longer targets the Prime Minister on this. In return he has been getting generous financial assistance from the Centre for relief and rehabilitation work in the wake of cyclones which have been the bane of the state.

The other compulsion of Patnaik is that he can, under no circumstances, support the Congress which has been the natural enemy of his party which came into existence on the slogan of defeating the Grand Old party. So even after his party’s alliance with the BJP collapsed in Odisha ahead of 2009 assembly elections he continued to avoid the Congress and maintained his relations with the top BJP leaders at the Centre.

However, the support for Vaishnaw’s candidature this time has completely exposed Patnaik and his BJD which, it is now more than clear, is having a fixed bout with the BJP in the state. Their rivalry would appear to be nothing more than a thinly veiled pretence.