Post the voting on the Waqf bill in the parliament, there seems to be a new twist in the BJD politics. Why alone twist there is a voice against the once most powerful IAS turned BJD leader V K Pandian and most favoured poster boy of Naveen Patnaik right inside Navin Niwas(Patnaik’s residence).

And when Patnaik was inside and the sloganeering was going on the patio of Navin Niwas. Once a fortress, Navin Niwas where the devils would not dare to tread, some BJD workers and leaders led by Khan, raised the slogan ‘V K Pandian go back’.

Although the din continued for sometime Patnaik remained inside contrary to the expectation that he would come out and cool down the irate leaders by a clarification.

And by implication the invincibility of Naveen Patnaik as BJD supremo faces a huge question mark.

Which was unheard of within the BJD as some party cadres shouted ‘go back’ Pandian. In the din one could also hear a solo voice BJD ‘murdabad’. 

The crux of the matter is that the BJD Rajya Sabha members who took part in the voting for the Waqf bill some voted in the favour of the Bill and some against it. Thus, signaling at the dearth or absence of any stance by the party on the issue which has agitated people and parties in the country almost.

There is no denying that, till the 2024 polls took place, the BJD has been supporting the NDA both in the Lok Sabha and in the Rajya Sabha on various major issues that had explicitly demonstrated Patnaik’s bonhomie with Prime Minister Modi till BJD faced a humiliating defeat in the 2024 general elections.

But on the Waqf Bill the signal, as per sources in the BJD, the party president had advised to vote against the Bill albeit with a suggested rider by the use of a word ‘discretion’ while the members vote on Waqf bill. But so far Patnaik has not clarified whether that was his version or not.

The word discretion connotes either prudence or maturity but in the case of BJD it were all diktats from the leader at the top which has prevailed and according to one Rajya Sabha BJD MP, Munna Khan that the BJD supremo had in two occasions told the members to vote against the Waqf board and as per Khan the exercise of ‘discretion’ was never uttered by Patnaik. Which has, in fact, created the confusion and has drawn a line of division in the BJD.

Then further confounding the confusion the BJD’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Sasmit Patra tweeted that one can vote as per his or her discretion and Patra admittedly voted in favour of the amendment of the Waqf bill along with another member Sulata Deo.

If Patnaik has not used the word discretion then who? Who has dared to bypass the Supremo’s diktat and the members either Patra or Deo voted in favour of the Bill.

“In all those 24 years it was Naveen Patnaik but in last two years it was only V K Pandian who, may be much to the chagrin of many BJD leaders, was masquerading as Patnaik’s only political representative and enjoyed an unquestioned position which apparently has been irritating the cadres” said Rabi Das, political analyst adding that “  in 2024 polls Pandian’s audacity to become the sole campaigner disturbed not only the voters but common men as well”.

From those days only the embers of angst were smoldering within and now a time has come when Naveen must stop walking on crutches of a man called V K Pandian.    

Unprecedented show of guts   

Just a day back, at last Naveen came out and was riddled with barrage of question by the angry leaders and for a while a visibly perturbed Naveen Patnaik seemed helpless holding the mike himself before he virtually fumbled “ I will review the matter very soon what has happened”.

Analyst would say that at least after the 2024 poll debacle Patnaik should have had a lesson and distanced himself from Pandian or should have asked the latter not to meddle in even from the backyards.

May be a motley number of leaders dared the chief the other day but there is common anguish among almost all BJD leaders as far as Pandian is concerned. Relinquish

Having declared a kind of ‘Sanyas’(relinquishment) from politics why V K Pandian is still around in Naveen’s residence it raises many eyebrows in several circles.

Meanwhile, there is a secret meeting of very senior BJD leaders in a city hotel and as yet no outcome has come to the media.

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