With Congress and BJP down and out in Odisha splitting of BJD to two strong regional parties could be good for Odisha
Odisha Assembly, Odisha in Elections, Odisha MLAs, Odisha MPs, State of the state May 30th. 2012, 1:25amThe Congress party in India is a party where the Gandhi family (especially, Sonia and Rahul) have too much power without much responsibility and that has been the major reason the UPA 2 government has floundered in many ways. Commenting on one such aspect, the indecisiveness of UPA2, Shekhar Gupta wrote: "The inherently indecisive style of this establishment is compounded by the fact that its administrative and political authority is so scattered — so scattered, in fact, that the buck has to make a dozen halts en route, like a DTC bus, before it finally stops with somebody."
Alternatively, the BJP refuses to atone and clean up its tainted image and is yet to apologize for the Gujarat events in 2002 (unlike Congress which has apologized for the 1984 Sikh massacre in Delhi) and continues to stand behind Narendra Modi.
Fortunately, people in Odisha don’t like either and both Congress and BJP are down and out in Odisha.
As a result BJD and Naveen Patnaik have been governing Odisha for the last 12 years and in some sense going stronger. However, there have been many major shortcomings.
- BJD has been in the opposition in the central government for the last 8 years and Odisha has had very little representation in the central government.
- Without a strong and credible opposition the Odisha government has been complacent in many spheres. They have done better than the previous governments but there has been a lot of missed opportunities.
- The current government really has only one minister with influence, which is the CM. The other ministers seem to be only for show and have no real decision making power.
The first two shortcomings can be addressed if BJD splits to two "strong" regional parties that can relegate the national parties of Congress and BJP to 3rd and 4th position in the state.
That way at any time one of the regional parties can team up with the coalition that runs the government at the center and make the case for Odisha from within the central govt. This would be better than what happened in the last 8 years where there has been zero (initial days of UPA 1) or only one minister in the central government from Odisha, and ZERO representation from Odisha in the central cabinet.
Tamil Nadu with DMK and AIDMK as the leading regional parties is a good example of regional parties having strong influence in the center. One or the other has been an ally of the center for a long time.
UP with SP and BSP as number 1 and 2 is somewhat similar though neither are part of the central government. But they extend support to the central government. Because of that SP now has strong influence on the government. Moreover, Ajit Singh from another small party is in the cabinet as the minister for Civil Aviation.
If one considers the CPI(M) in West Bengal to be a regional party (which it almost is) then West Bengal with TMC and CPI(M) relegate Congress and BJP out of the top 2. They have benefited by this approach as CPIM from West Bengal had a huge say in UPA1 (until the end) and TMC has 5-6 ministers in the current central government.
In Maharashtra the regional parties of NCP and Shiv Sena partner with Congress and BJP and thus lookout for Maharashtra’s interest.
The third shortcoming can also be addressed by the split in that the parties resulting from the split will provide opportunity for new emerging leaders and intellectuals to be part of these parties and force the BJD-Naveen to decentralize power.
In conclusion, it may be good for Odisha if BJD splits to two "strong" regional parties that can relegate the national parties of Congress and BJP to 3rd and 4th position in the state.
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May 30th, 2012 at 1:55 am
Prescient! Some really great points. Two parties, multi-party or not we need people who can work somewhat selflessly for the state. We need leaders who are quick decision makers and good implementers. Case in point are the MoUs. The decision to sign them happened quickly, but what about the implementation? The current ministers in my impression are people who are feathering their own nest. (I will be happy to be proven wrong). And now that there is a revolt within the BJD I wish it is for the better of the state. The last thing that we need is a set of ministers who are looking to make a quick buck. Odisha is one of the poorest states in the country and virtually unknown. Let’s just hope that whatever happens happens for the best.
May 30th, 2012 at 7:44 am
There are two powerful regional parties in several states but they represent two different poles in politics. In case of Odisha, both factions of BJD will try to out do each other in claiming the Biju legacy. BJP and Congress may become irrelevant in Odisha but it is a fact that only either of these two parties will head a government at the centre. Finally,it is foolish to think that people of Odisha will not look beyond the Biju factions. There are no towering leaders and a state specific vision in other parties but the moment they come out with a clean leader with impeccable commitment for the state then people may not be averse to experiment. In politics 1 plus 1 makes 11, and so when a Party faces a vertical split, the way it happened with AGP in the past, the damage could be far more than anticipated. As facts would suggest, in last two months Naveen Patnaik has himself met LK Advani and MM Joshi several times in Delhi (Sambad 29th May) and there are clear indications that he has set his eyes on returning to NDA fold. In that case the other faction of BJD will only get closer to Congress and whether that will indeed help Odisha’s cause is still presumptive.
May 30th, 2012 at 10:59 am
Ajit Singh with 5 MPs in his RLD party is a cabinet minister. See http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20111213/main6.htm. So Odisha with 21 MPs can still benefit from 2 regional parties. Say BJD-1 has 12 MPs and BJD-2 has 7 MPs. If BJD-1 is part of the coalition that runs the central govt. it can get 3-4 ministers while BJD-2, if it is in the running coalition can get 2 ministers. (The calculation is as follows. There about 552 Lok Sabha members. From now on the winning coalitions will have about 280 LS members. There are about 80 ministers. Since LS numbers decide who forms the government in the center it is about 280/80 = 3.5 LS members per minister. )
I think in the future the central government will continue to be run by coalitions and a party with more than 5 MPs would have an influence.
Also, regional parties give an opportunity for more Odisha based leaders to be known nationally. In the current BJD set up, except Naveen Patnaik, the only other MP known outside Odisha is Jay Panda. With two BJDs another 1-2 MPs will become known outside Odisha.
July 2nd, 2012 at 4:24 am
I agree with the proposition….otherwise BJD will turn into dictator..
August 14th, 2012 at 5:39 am
Hi,
Nice blog.
I really appreciate with it.
Thank you.
BJP youth leader
February 13th, 2013 at 11:54 am
Historically India was never a country. Present India is a gift of British and remains imperial in its structure and function. The imperial power obviously does not tolerate state satrap. When we vote for a so-called national party we strenthen the imperialism inherent in the system. So , what is the alternative to BJD? It should be another regional party. Let the CM of Odisha be choosen by people of Odisha and not be an installed one. An installed CM has to be a bootlicker to save his chair and can not stand for the interest of Odisha. Let another regional party occupy the opposition space.