BJP trying to engineer split in Biju Janata Dal, says BJD member

There are already BJD Lok Sabha members who are known to hobnob with the BJP leadership

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Lok Sabha member Tathagata Satapathy accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to engineer a split in his party in a series of tweets on Monday morning. 

He said that the resultant instability would help the Centre push for early Assembly elections in the state.

The BJD, under the leadership of Naveen Patnaik, has ruled Odisha since 2000. The BJD and BJP were allies until 2009, when Patnaik walked out months before the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. He accused the BJP and Sangh Parivar of fomenting communal riots in the state.

In 2008, rioting had taken place in the predominantly tribal district of Kandhamal in which churches were destroyed and tribals, primarily those who followed the Christian faith, killed. Hindu groups claimed the rioting was to avenge the murder of a Hindu monk by Maoists. A BJP legislator was found to be involved in inciting violence.

In the last three years, the BJP has focused on Odisha as one of the states where it hopes to make inroads. To give this effort a push, the BJP plans to hold its national executive meeting in Bhubaneshwar on April 15 and 16. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address a public rally there.

The recent civic and panchayat polls in Odisha had BJP winning an unprecedented number of seats and emerging as the principal Opposition to the BJD, pushing the Congress to the third place. Sangh Parivar outfits have also been active in the state in their efforts to check religious conversions.

Odisha has 21 Lok Sabha seats. In 2014, the BJD won 20 of these. The BJP bagged one seat. The BJD also comfortably won the Assembly polls, which had coincided with the Lok Sabha polls.

For 2019, the BJP has identified 113 seats in its non-traditional areas of Northeast India, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which it believes it can win. This, the party hopes, will compensate for any losses that it might suffer in the Hindi heartland. In 2014, the BJP had maximised its performance in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which it fears it might not be able to repeat in 2019.

This is where Odisha's 21 Lok Sabha seats are important. Satapathy tweeted that “BJP is hard work to divide BJD in Parliament, maybe even in assembly (sic)”. He added that the BJP wants an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam type split.



There are already BJD Lok Sabha members that are known to hobnob with the BJP leadership or take positions supportive of the Modi government. Satapathy didn’t name any potential defectors but said “rumours” were afloat that a particular Member of Parliament would swing this deal for the BJP by splitting the Biju Janata Dal.

Satapathy said the split will help BJP force early elections in Odisha, along with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. “Will the Election Commission play along,” he asked. The elections in Gujarat are scheduled for December, but there is a buzz in Gandhinagar that the BJP wants to advance this to the middle of the year.

Satapathy believes even the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Assembly polls, scheduled for the end of 2018, might be advanced to take advantage of the support for Modi’s leadership after the BJP’s emphatic victory in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP is apprehensive that anti-incumbency of the Vasundhara Raje government could cost the party Rajasthan, and there are those within the party who want Raje to be replaced.

Satapathy said that the BJP national executive in mid-April is an effort by the party to “put pressure to make the state government defunct”. Satapathy ended his series of tweets with a caution for the BJP. “Odisha may not be considered cowbelt,” he said.

While Patnaik remains a popular leader, the BJP vote share has consistently increased in the state in the past few years.