Bhubaneswar: In the aftermath of his party’s debacle in the recently concluded panchayat elections, Odisha chief minister Naveen Panaik seems to have mellowed down a little to win back the people’s love for him and his party, – the Biju Janata Dal (BJD). In the past, riding high on popularity that he arguably earned by rolling out nearly a dozen of populist measures, including the Re 1-per kg rice scheme;- Naveen had never cared for the opposition so much as he has displayed so far in the ongoing session of the Assembly. Unlike previous sessions when he preferred to skip the scheduled business sessions, important discussions and confined himself to his chamber in the Assembly building, - the chief minister is marked to have tried to remain as much time possible on the floor of the House to encourage his ministers to face the opposition members more effectively.
Sources close to the BJD chief said, - although Naveen put up a brave front by dismissing any impact of his party’s poor performance in rural polls on the outcome of the 2019 assembly elections, - he has, however, taken the results seriously as it has come an “indicator” of the BJD’s diminishing stake in state politics. The CM finds it hard to digest his party’s fall to 473 seats in 2017 elections.
