Former Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal – which helped the Bharatiya Janata Party pass key bills in the Modi government's first two terms, when it lacked numbers in the Rajya Sabha – now seems to that he has changed his course, and has named himself “the one.” A strong and dynamic opposition”.
“We will hold the Center accountable on all issues. BJD MLAs will raise all issues related to the development of the state and the welfare of the people of Odisha,” the party quoted Mr. Patnaik as saying at a meeting. Nine Rajya Sabha MPs in Bhubaneswar today.
“(We) will be the voice of 4.5 crore people of Odisha in Parliament…”
After the BJD has supported the BJP on various issues for the past 10 years, this is its turn.
Indeed, the support of the BJD and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jaganmohan Reddy — whose YSR Congress was ousted by BJP ally Chandrababu Naidu's TDP — was crucial on several occasions. , such as the selection of Railway Minister Ashwini Vishnu for Rajya. Sabha in 2009 and 2014.
More recently, the BJD's support also helped the BJP push through the Delhi Services Bill, ensuring the flop of a no-confidence motion against the Modi government, and triple talaq and the J&K Reorganization Bill. As forwarded by laws.
The BJD statement said the “genuine demands” ranged from 'special category' status for Odisha to housing and education for the poor, and the establishment of key medical institutions such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Taking – “…not a satellite unit” – for better national highways.
The party also flagged social and economic issues, including the contentious topic of MSP, or minimum support price for farmers, which has been a bone of contention between the opposition and the BJP since the violent protests of 2021/22. Is. The BJD also said it would demand “inclusion of 162 communities” in the state's list of Scheduled Tribes, which it said it had been lobbying for “for many years”.
All this comes after Mr. Modi's party's landslide victory in the May-June Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. In the former, the BJP defeated the BJD by winning 20 of the state's 21 seats and in the latter, Mr. Patnaik – who lost the Kantabanji seat to BJP's Laxman Baig – won only 147 seats. won at 51, down from 112 five years ago. The BJP secured a 78-to-four majority to form its first Odisha government.
Read on “Oh, you defeated me”: BJD boss Naveen Patnaik to BJP MLA
The twin defeats left Mr Patnaik firmly on the back foot in a state he has dominated since 2000. His BJD won more than 50 percent of the Lok Sabha seats in every assembly election and every general election.
In fact, for the first time, the BJD has failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat.
The BJD, which had 12 Lok Sabha members in 2019, now has only nine in the Rajya Sabha. And that number will halve in 2026, when the four Odisha seats – now held by the BJD – fall vacant.
Earlier today, BJD leader Susmeet Patra said party chief Naveen Patnaik had “given clear instructions to fight for the rights of the people of the state in Parliament”. “No more support to the BJP, only opposition. We can go to any extent to protect the interests of Odisha,” he said after Mr. Patnaik's meeting.
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In recent elections, the BJD was not part of the Congress-led Indian bloc, which united the opposition to block Mr. Modi, the BJP and the party's National Democratic Alliance.
Mr Patnaik and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – who helped found the Indian group before jumping to the NDA after internal rows – met in May last year but the BJD chief maintained non-alignment. and dismissed the meeting as one between “old friends and”. Colleagues”.
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