Who will be Odisha CM? Here are BJP's top leaders in the state

The BJP is inching towards the majority mark of 74 in early trends during counting of votes for the Odisha Assembly polls, signalling a defeat for the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government.

While the saffron party is leading in 70 of the 147 Assembly seats, the ruling BJD is leading in 61 constituencies. The Congress is leading in 13 Assembly seats.

With Naveen Patnaik winning five consecutive Assembly polls since 2000, this is the first time his government is facing neck-on-neck contest from the BJP and is at the brink of a humiliating defeat.

This is in contrast to the results of the 2019 Assembly polls in which the BJD swept 112 seats while the BJP could muster only 23 seats.

Trends also show the BJP to be leading in 18 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats while the BJD is leading only in two and the Congress in one.

The BJP despite claiming to register a massive victory in Odisha, has been tight-lipped over its chief ministerial candidate. While the party has stressed on multiple accounts that only a son or daughter of the soil will be the chief minister, state unit chief, Manmohan Samal, clarified in May that the call can only be taken by the party’s parliamentary committee.

While it is still a mystery whom the BJP will pick as the chief minister in the event of a win, Odisha-based political analyst Sandeep Sahu says either Odisha BJP chief Samal or Pradhan could be considered for the post.

Sahu says he would place his bets on Samal as he has been instrumental in boosting the morale of the party ahead of the polls and convincing the leadership that the BJP doesn’t need an alliance with the BJD for the Lok Sabha polls and can fight it alone.

Even though BJD turncoat Baijayant Panda is among the prominent faces in Odisha BJP, Sahu says he may not be considered for the post if he repeats his loss from the Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency for the second time in a row.

At this juncture, here is a look at prominent BJP faces in the poll fray:

Dharmendra Pradhan

The poster boy of the BJP in Odisha, Pradhan has been at the forefront of the poll campaigning in the state. Pradhan who last won a Lok Sabha election in Odisha in 2004, has returned to the electoral fray after a gap of 15 years after representing Bihar and Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha.

He has been pitted against BJD’s Pranab Prakash Das and Congress’ Nagendra Kumar Pradhan in the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat.

“In case the BJP comes to power, there is a huge possibility that Pradhan may be made the chief minister and contest a bypoll later. The BJP wouldn’t have fielded him from Odisha if there wasn’t such a plan in place,” says Sahu.

Manmohan Samal

Samal was appointed the state BJP president last year amid the party’s resolve to unseat the Patnaik government.

Samal, who has had two earlier stints as the party’s Odisha unit chief, is said to have been appointed for a third time to ensure the BJP’s win in the Dhamnagar by-election.

Samal had won Assembly elections from the Dhamnagar seat in Bhadrak in 2004 and became a minister in the BJD-BJP coalition government. He is contesting from the Chandbali Assembly segment.

Baijayant Panda

A friend turned foe of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Panda, known as ‘Jay Panda’ in Delhi political circles, is the national vice president and spokesperson of the saffron party.

He is contesting from the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat this time, a seat he lost to BJD’s Anubhav Mohanty in the 2019 polls.

Even though he was counted among prominent BJD leaders who could fill Patnaik’s shoes, Panda’s open criticism towards the Patnaik government during his tenure as a BJD MP led to his suspension from the party and subsequent resignation in 2018. He later joined the BJP in 2019.

Jual Oram

The BJP veteran and former Union minister from Odisha is seeking re-election from the Sundergarh Lok Sabha seat for the third time. Oram has been winning the seat since 1998, only losing it to Congress’ Hemananda Biswal in 2009, but regaining it in 2014.

Oram secured the BJP its only Lok Sabha seat in Odisha in the 2019 polls.

Aparajita Sarangi

The IAS officer turned politician was among the winners when the BJP upped its Lok Sabha tally from one to eight in the 2019 polls.

A resident of Bihar, but married to an Odia, Sarangi shot to fame with her policies when she served as the secretary in various state government departments between 2009 to 2013, the most prominent being her stint in the School Education department.

In 2013, she became the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development and worked till 2018 till her jump into politics.

She is contesting from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat.

It is highly unlikely that Sarangi, a non-Odia would be made the chief minister, especially when the BJP copiously used the “outsider” narrative to slam Patnaik and his Tamil Nadu-born aide VK Pandian to make a case for Odia ‘asmita’ (self-respect), says Sahu.

Sidhant Mohapatra

The actor turned politician, who recently jumped ship from the BJD to BJP, has been fielded from the Digapahandi Assembly constituency.

Mohapatra, who served as a two-time BJD MP from Berhampur, has lately been critical of the Patnaik government on various issues, the most prominent being the government’s disdain for the Odia language.