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Angry BJD workers stone Patnaik's house

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar

As soon as the seat-sharing deal between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Biju Janata Dal for the Orissa assembly election was announced in New Delhi last night, angry BJD workers broke through the gates of Naveen Patnaik's residence in Bhubaneswar and threw stones, smashing window panes. They also staged a dharna in front of the house, shouting slogans against their party chief. The police had to be called in to disperse them.

While the standoff between the BJP and the BJD over sharing of seats appears to have been resolved, Patnaik's position in the party has been severely undermined.

"Naveen Patnaik is not a patch on his illustrious father Biju. He has given in to the BJP," fumed a BJD leader who was angry that his party had climbed down from its claim to at least 92 seats.

In fact, as soon as the announcement was made in New Delhi, many BJD leaders condemned Patnaik's "weakness" and predicted a short-lived government if the alliance wins.

"The BJP has triumphed. Our chief ran to their central leaders, but could not hold on to his position. We have succumbed to the BJP which will wipe us out now," said a BJD worker near Naveen Nivas, Patnaik's residence.

There are several hawks in the BJD who wanted the party to be allowed the lion's share of Orissa's 147 assembly seats. They were even advocating going it alone if the BJP disagreed. But the moderate view prevailed in the party's political affairs committee, that if the alliance were snapped at this juncture, it would only benefit the ruling Congress.

Initially in fact, the BJD had demanded 122 seats, no less. That was scaled down to 100 seats and, finally, 92. Now the party has had to rest content with 84.

"Patnaik sold out just because the BJP promised him chief ministership!" said a senior BJD politician. Just a few days ago the BJP had modified its stand that a 'consensus candidate' should become chief minister and offered to support Patnaik's claim if it [the BJP] got a 'reasonable' share of the seats. Obviously, 63 seats make for a 'reasonable' share. But for this, the BJD had to lose eight more seats, thus tacitly accepting the BJP's demand that the seat-sharing be done as per the formula used in last year's Lok Sabha election when the BJD contested 12 seats and the BJP nine.

The finalisation of candidates is on now, but it is Patnaik's moderate friends who will have to be sacrificed. With his position as a strong party chief taking a beating, and the simmering hostility between the BJP and the BJD corroding the alliance, how he shapes up as chief minister and how long he manages to remain in the saddle remains to be seen. He has enough rivals in his own party who will spare no effort to see him out.

State BJP chief Manmohan Samal sounded happy when he told rediff.com: "It is good that the BJD shook off its rigidity. The alliance has been saved." But most BJD leaders and workers were disheartened. They said there was no need to have delayed the deal so long if the party chief were to ultimately cave in like this.

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