“What does not kill me makes me stronger.” True to this Nietzsche maxim, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik seems to have emerged stronger after the failed coup against him while he was away on an official visit to the United Kingdom. In a series of moves that began soon after his return, Mr. Patnaik has dropped three ministers from the cabinet and consolidated his support-base in the ruling Biju Janata Dal. The suspended rebel leader, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Pyari Mohan Mohapatra, could only watch in helplessness the rapid depletion of his following once it became clear that he would not be able to successfully challenge Mr. Patnaik. Indeed, the Chief Minister met many of the dissidents who attended a meeting called by Mr. Mohapatra and obtained details of the main conspirators and the deliberations at the meeting. The remedial action was surgical in its precision, targeting the ringleaders and leaving alone those who claimed to have been misled. Not having alienated the entire group of dissidents, Mr. Patnaik thus retains a comfortable majority in the legislature. Besides the three ministers, only two of the dissident MLAs were suspended. The forgiven dissidents, like new converts, are now full of faith and repentance. The unsuccessful coup seamlessly gave way to a successful purge.
But Mr. Patnaik would be mistaken to assume that his tactical handling of the post-coup situation would bring down the curtain on all his political troubles. That Mr. Mohapatra could not muster the necessary numbers must have been comforting to Mr. Patnaik, but the question to ask is about the support that the rebel group managed to get initially. Surely, if some 30 MLAs can be persuaded to attend a meeting of dissidents, there must have been something seriously wrong with Mr. Patnaik's governance or style of functioning. In recent months, the mining scam had cast its shadow on the government, and Mr. Patnaik, who enjoys a relatively clean image, was seen as slow to act. Justice M.B. Shah, who heads the Commission of Inquiry set up to probe illegal mining of iron ore and manganese, had drawn attention to the involvement of bureaucrats in the illegal mining. But, to Mr. Patnaik's advantage, the rebel group itself was packed with persons of dubious character, and the allegations made by Mr. Mohapatra lacked credibility. Even so, Chief Minister Patnaik would do well to treat the threat to his leadership as a wake-up call, and pay greater attention to governance and development, and livelihood issues in Odisha. Otherwise, a fourth successive term might elude him in the general election two years from now.
Keywords: Odissa government crisis, BJD dissidence
There has been a huge change in the trend of indian politics whether its a case of Mayawati suspending its most trusted minister or the recent Naveen Patnaik's recent act of dropping three BJD ministers from cabinet. It seems that elite panel if going against the ministerial head is not given a second chance. The minister does not backs up even his trusted person if there is a spark of rebel in them. It is creating a negative impact of democracy on citizens. These indifferences are to be sorted out within party and should out within party meetings and should not be witnessed publicly.
This is realy disgusting.Indian politics is all about try to prove someone wrong and make yourself stronger to be claimed as a leader.Realy rather that divide the single unit and try to be leader of divided unit,people should come together and discuss the issues with free mind and try to have common solution on it.There might be naother side of coin too. Leader may be not working as a team member. So Navin Patnaik should also analyse him and he should pay attention towards him governance,his team building and all in all his political power.
In response to Ajeet Tiwary who writes,
"The leaders of parties are not leaving the party but they are
attacking their party while being its member. This is not a good sign
for our democracy. They should discuss their internal matter within
party core group."
I'd argue to the contrary. If this were a trend, it will be excellent
news. Inner party democracy, to the degree of open and serious disagreements, is what strengthen both the policy and the polity. It
is what will challenge the opaque cliques that run party machines --
Exhibit A: INC and most other parties in India which anyway owe the
origin to the INC. The Communist Parties may be an exception but they
have a Politburo which is a formalized version of the clique.
But sadly, I doubt if this is even a trend as Mr Tiwari contends. It's
more a disgruntled element of Party A or Party B trying to go one-up.
Which is only trying to replace one clique with another.
Yes, Mr Navin Patnaik can break record as a chief Minister of his state if he returns to power for the fourth term in 2014. But that should not be the end of the story. Further he has the capacity to improve the lot of tribal population in his state. But today fruits of economic growth are not reaching a very large section of his state’s population. Let us not forget that on account of income and wealth disparities and neglect of rural areas and agriculture in particular we find that the sphere of influence of naxals is increasing. Therefore, let him concentrate his energy (1) to revamp our public distribution system to ensure food supply to our poor, (2) improve our public hospitals to provide affordable health care and (3) finally have in place a good primary education infrastructure to improve literacy. Then one can be proud of his fourth term as CM of Odisha.
Even the best is not the perfect. Odisha has been in news for last few days thanks to the voice of dissidents which was made in Bhubaneswar and heard in London. The seriousness of the matter necessitated the return of CM Mr. Navin Patnaik leaving his tenure incomplete. I think that the behavior of BJD MLAs was devoid of sanity. Even if they had some problem with the way Mr. Patnaik performed his duties they should have met with him once he had returned from London or they should have discussed the issue when he had still not left for the journey. The very fact that the dissenting MLAs asserted themselves when Mr. CM was on foreign land raises many uncomfortable question before them (MLAs). These days Indian politics is reflecting a very new trend. The leaders of parties are not leaving the party but they are attacking their party while being its member. This is not a good sign for our democracy. They should discuss their internal matter within party core group.
Please Email the Editor