With its strength of 15 Lok Sabha members, the ruling BJD in Orissa headed by chief minister Naveen Patnaik has succeeded in keeping two of its strong opponents — the Congress and BJP — on tenterhooks.
Central leaders of both the Congress and BJP, despite their state leaders breathing fire against the regional outfit for its alleged involvement in a host of mining scams, Central-funded programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and mid-day-meal programme — cannot afford to antagonise the BJD apparently with hope that the latter can be approached for an alliance at the time of adversity.
Reading the situation quite well, the diplomatic Naveen Patnaik, who severed ties with decade-old ally BJP on the eve of 2009 general elections, has often appeared in double postures, - indicating he may go either way under a “given situation and circumstances.”
The Congress and BJP leaders in Orissa, while dubbing the BJD government as “the most corrupt establishment in the country”, have been clamouring since long for CBI probes into numerous multi-crore scams and scandals. Interestingly, the UPA government has kept a discreet mum over such demands.
The only CBI probe which is going on in state now is related to MGNREGA scam.
The probe was ordered by the Supreme Court following a petition by a Delhi based non-governmental organisation.
In fact, top Congress leaders, including general secretary Rahul Gandhi, has preferred to undermine the scams here. “In comparison to other states, corruption is not so huge here,” Rahul told reporters here during his last visit to the state in July this year. This statement then greatly demoralised the party’s state leaders.
In fact, the BJD leaders, quoting Mr Gandhi’s statement, chided the Congress on different discussion forums.
Similarly, top BJP leader L.K. Advani put a spanner on the party’s state leaders’ plan to dislodge the Naveen government in coming 2014 assembly elections by his recent remarks that his party (BJP) “is not so strong” in Orissa.
This shocked the BJP state leaders who were assiduously creating public opinion against the scam-tainted government.