Bhubaneswar: BJD Backs Off Congress Bandh Call After Brief Support
The reversal came barely 30 minutes after senior BJD leader Pramila Mallik announced that the party would support the bandh against the alleged deletion of voters’ names from electoral rolls during the SIR.
Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday made a dramatic U-turn on the Congress’s call for a 12-hour Odisha bandh on Thursday, exposing the regional party’s dilemma over its ties with the Opposition camp.
The reversal came barely 30 minutes after senior BJD leader Pramila Mallik announced that the party would support the bandh against the alleged deletion of voters’ names from electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Mallik first told reporters around noon that the BJD would join the Congress-sponsored shutdown, citing the participation of the party’s Rajya Sabha members in the INDIA bloc’s protest march in New Delhi against the SIR exercise.
However, within half an hour, Mallik called another press conference at her residence and clarified that the BJD would not support or participate in the Odisha bandh.
She also sought to draw a distinction between the BJD’s participation in the INDIA bloc’s Delhi protest and any formal association with the Opposition alliance.
“Recently, we held an economic blockade in Sundargarh. Did anyone support us then? Wherever the interests of the people or the State are harmed, our beloved leader (Naveen Patnaik) has fought and the Biju Janata Dal has fought. We will stand by that fight. Whether any party supports us or not, we will maintain equal distance. We have neither joined any alliance nor supported any political party,” Mallik said.
Her clarification appeared aimed at reinforcing the BJD’s long-standing claim that it maintains equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress.
Earlier in the day, however, Mallik had taken a distinctly different position.
“Our party (BJD) has extended support, and we have already protested against the Election Commission of India’s actions, particularly the alleged wrongful removal of voters from the electoral rolls.
Therefore, we will support tomorrow’s strike and extend our full support to the movement,” she had said.
The two statements, delivered within a short interval, have raised questions about the BJD’s political positioning at a time when the party has shown signs of greater engagement with the Congress-led Opposition on certain issues.
The BJD’s Rajya Sabha members had on Tuesday participated in the INDIA bloc’s protest march in Delhi against the SIR exercise.
The move had fuelled speculation about whether the regional party was gradually moving closer to the Opposition grouping despite repeatedly asserting that it had not joined the alliance.
According to political analyst Sriram Dash, the party’s decision to back away from Thursday’s bandh indicates that it remains keen to preserve its independent political identity in Odisha.