Even as rural Odisha is engulfed in a shrill campaign for panchayat polls in the state, the spark for the political cacophony has come from a different source: the investigating agencies working under the central and state governments.
Weeks before the poll dates were announced, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charged up the atmosphere by issuing summons and conducting raids on people linked to the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in connection with the multi-crore chit fund scam.
The state disposition has turned the tables on its rivals through raids on the business establishment of a relative of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, seen as the main challenger to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and possibly the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) chief ministerial face.
On the orders of the Supreme Court in May 2014, the CBI has been investigating the chit fund scam in the state, where more than two million families allegedly lost money to unscrupulous financial outfits after being lured by promises of high returns on their deposits.
After an initial flutter over the investigation, which saw the CBI arrest many from across the spectrum of politics, business and the media, there was a long hiatus before the probe agency revved up to action a few weeks back by issuing summons to some senior leaders of the BJD for their alleged links with chit fund firms.
In the latest round, the CBI raided the houses and establishments of BJD Parliament member from Balasore R K Jena, party Assembly member from Cuttack Pravat Biswal, and a former aide of the chief minister, Saroj Sahu.
Coming days before the panchayat elections in the state, this has caused a lot of embarrassment for the ruling party. Although the BJD suffered a setback in 2014 when its Mayurbhanj member of Parliament, Rama Chandra Hansda, and then Assembly member from Banki, Pravat Tripathy, were arrested in chit fund-related cases, the party had just returned to power for the fourth consecutive time with a thumping majority and there was no fear of lasting political damage.
This time, however, the timing of the CBI action is crucial, particularly when the agency seeks to take the thread of a complicated web of accomplices in the chit fund scam to the doorstep of Patnaik, the mascot and vote-catcher for the BJD on the strength of his clean image. This, despite the probe against his former aide, Sahu. As expected, the BJD has questioned the timing of the CBI action and termed it politically motivated.
What followed immediately confirmed people’s perception about the use of investigating agencies against political opponents for electoral gain. Soon after the raids on Sahu’s house, sleuths of the vigilance department, a wing of the state police, raided the gas distribution agency of Soumendra Pradhan, elder brother of Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan, on charges of unauthorised sale of LPG cylinders.
Dharmendra Pradhan has, however, stayed away from the controversy by stating that the state can raid any one engaged in supply of essential services under the relevant act on allegations of irregularity and take action against the guilty even if he/she were his relative. “Let the law take its own course,” he quipped, reiterating a statement often used by Patnaik when anything unsavoury comes up against any of his party men.
Political posturing apart, these incidents promise to add spark to the electoral battle in the panchayat polls, the campaign for which is otherwise dominated by local issues such as roads, drinking water, electricity, school and hospital facilities, farm production and marketing and employment opportunities. But with millions of families losing their hard-earned money to chit fund firms and yet to get even the nominal refund promised by the government, the issue would remain in focus during the campaign.
But more than devising the campaign strategy to score over candidates from rival parties, all the parties are now busy containing multiple aspirants from their own party for different positions in the three-tier panchayat system for which elections are being conducted. These aspirants can threaten to switch to rival outfits or contest as independents, marring the chances of the party nominee for the positions of sarpanch, panchayat samiti member and zilla parishad members. Although the first two posts are not contested on party tickets, parties have their own nominees for the posts.
After the scrutiny of the nomination papers, there are now more than 200,000 candidates in the fray for the polls, which would be held in five phases between February 13 and 21.
As things stand now, the ruling BJD, with its network of workers and resources at its command, is clearly ahead of its rivals. But it will be interesting to watch the BJP, which is trying hard to expand its base in the state, giving it a tough fight and improving its vote share and chance of winning. The Congress, the number two party in the state, is still in disarray and appears to lack the aggressiveness for an important electoral battle — the next Assembly election in 2019.
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