All-India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi has unnerved the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders in Orissa. The party, which has been ruling the state since 2000, did not appear so much perturbed and disturbed in the last 10 years as it looks now.
Mr Gandhi’s visit to the poverty-stricken Kalahandi district on August 26 and proclaiming himself as the “sipahi of Orissa tribals in Delhi” at a public rally has hurt so much the BJD leaders that they held a similar gathering at the same place on Friday. In the rally, almost all the BJD leaders, starting from the local panchayat representatives to the nine ministers present there, questioned Mr Gandhi’s new “sipahi” character and alleged that the Congress leader was indulging in cheap politics.
“If Rahul feels he is the sipahi (solider) of Orissa tribals, why did he not announce a special package for them when he came here on August 26? Why is that the tribals of Orissa, who all along supported the Gandhi family leaders, are still suffering from poverty and ignorance?” state finance minister and senior BJD leader, Prafulla Ghadei asked.
Other ministers like Suryanarayan Patro, Prasanna Acharya, Pramila Mallick, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Ramesh Majhi also launched an all-out tirade against Mr Gandhi.
Until 1998, western Orissa was a stronghold of the Congress. In 1998, the BJP, riding high on the popularity of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, established its sway over the pocket by winning all the nine Lok Sabha seats from the area.