BJP bid to counter CM’s regional chauvinism

Bhubanswar: The ruling BJD in Odisha which has managed to sustain itself in state politics by playing the card of regionalism and stoking anti-Centre feelings, seems to be losing the plot as the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre  is doing its best to address the state’s concerns ahead of the 2019 polls.

The Narendra Modi government, ever since it came to power in 2014, has increased Central fund allocation to the state and the BJP has tried to accommodate of more Odias in Central politics. By doing this, the saffron party has sent a strong message to the BJD that regional chauvinism would no longer work with Odisha voters.

The recent nomination of two prominent personalities from Odisha — sculptor Dr Raghunath Mohapatra and Odissi exponent Sonal Mansingh — is seen as a calculated plan of the saffron party to negate the impact of the BJD’s overplaying the card of regionalism and Odia pride.

Although the BJP had won only one of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2014, two Odias - Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan - were inducted into the Union of council ministers after Mr Modi took oath as Prime Minister.

In September last year, Mr Modi elevated Mr Pradhan to the Cabinet rank and rewarded him with one more portfolio - skill development and entrepreneurship.

Over the years, especially during the UPA regime, the BJD had been complaining about “poor” allocations in the railway budgets, besides making it a major issue during the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The party, while contending that Odisha contributed revenue amounting to Rs 14,000 crore per annum to the coffer of the Indian Railways, said that the poor allocation reflected the Union government’s “exploitative” nature and “step-motherly” attitude towards the state.  

Realising the rich benefits the BJD was deriving by raising this railway allocation issue, the Modi government intervened and significantly enhanced the allocations every year.

In 2012-13, Odisha had demanded Rs 2,345 crore, but got a paltry sum of Rs 724 crore which was subsequently reduced to Rs 444 crore. In the next 2013-14 Budget, the state got Rs 869 crore.

In the first railway budget of the Narendra Modi government in 2014-15, Odisha received a significantly higher allocation of Rs 1,420 crore.

In the 2018-19 railway budget, Odisha got Rs 5,252 crore, nearly 11 times more than what the state had received (Rs 444) in the last budget of the UPA government.

The Modi government has provided a total of Rs 1.96 lakh crore during the last four years against Rs 82,185.58 crore during the UPA-II government’s last four years.

For BJD, according to political analyst Dr Kishore Chandra Swain, it would now be futile to rake up the issue of “Central neglect” in order to win polls.

Expansion of road and rail networks, commissioning of IOCL refinery at Paradip, LNG terminal at Dhamra, LPG bottling plant at Balangir, National Informatics Centre at Bhubaneswar, MITS Mega Food Park at Rayagada, Skill Development Centre in Bhubaneswar are among a host of projects that are seen as major contributions of the NDA to Odisha’s development.

The state BJP leaders are showcasing these “contributions” as the real commitment of the party to the state development.