Dharmendra Leads the Race for CM

Bhubaneswar (Surjit Kumar Dhal): It was a tremendous victory for the Saffron Party in Odisha both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. With 78 seats in its bag, the saffron party is all set to form its maiden government in the state. The most interesting part is that the BJP managed to win a majority in the Assembly elections in Odisha without naming its probable CM.

As per the political analysts, the BJP will surely search for a name for the CM’s post, who would be able to match the image and stature of outgoing CM Naveen Patnaik in the national arena of politics. The top contender for the post in the minds of the majority in Odisha is the Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was the key catalyst behind BJP’s never before performance in Odisha. Pradhan’s role in BJP’s Odisha win was acknowledged by the Chanakya of the saffron party, the Home Minister Amit Shah during an election rally.

BJP’s manifesto for Odisha paved the path for its victory in the state. Amit Shah in his speech credited Pradhan for heading the team that formed the manifesto for the Odisha assembly elections. It was Pradhan who swayed the electorate in Odisha towards the BJP through promises of buying paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal, cash voucher of Rs 50,000 to women under Subhadra Yojana and fight for Odia asmita. He was the key brain behind BJP’s poll strategy management in Odisha. Added to it, Pradhan’s no holds barred attack on IAS-turned-politician VK Pandian as an outsider and use of issue of “missing keys” to sacred Ratna Bhandar of the Puri Jagannath Temple also drew results.

Acknowledge all this, BJP veteran and Union defence minister Rajnath Singh in his election speech in Odisha had indicated a bigger role for Pradhan in future. Pradhan has always remained at the core of national politics and bears the experience of holding key ministries in the Central cabinet. His grassroot level political acumen is always reckoned, as he started his political career during his student days in Utkal University. So, he has the capacity to deal with the mood of the voters and the political organization as well. This may make the BJP think-tank to choose this most prominent face of the party in Odisha without taking any risks in a state where the party is going to form its first government. Moreover, Pradhan hails from the OBC community, who constitute more than 50% of the population in Odisha. According to BJP sources, the parliamentary board of the party will decide upon the CM’s name for Odisha in the next two days.