The third component is diligent homework and a clinical, dispassionate, political decision-making process.   This may sound obvious to the lay person, but is still not common in political parties.  Take candidate selection, for instance.  In the absence of US-style primaries, most parties even today still choose candidates by a complex process that involves intrigue, lobbying, drama, sabotage, subterranean tests of loyalty, unverifiable caste arithmetic, and even kickbacks. That often leads to sub-optimal choices.  In Orissa, a quick glance at both BJP and Congress candidates reveal some breathtakingly unsuitable names who never stood a ghost of a chance.   

Almost from the day the BJD was formed, and perhaps because its founder was unfamiliar with politics in the beginning, the party has relied on extensive surveys, opinion polls, exit polls, etc.  These have never been devised to advertise the party’s strength, but rather to assess the ground realities and highlight weaknesses.  They have always been conducted by highly rated external agencies, but quietly and only for internal party use.  When it came to candidate selection, the strict criterion of winnability was applied to all, and no amount of lobbying or political clout made any difference.  

All the above are easy to preach, but very, very hard to practice.  Only in retrospect, after twelve years, does it all fit into a big picture, but every step of the way was just one piece of a huge jigsaw puzzle and every decision was fraught with uncertainty and risk.  Naveen Patnaik, “Pappu” to his childhood friends, has had to walk a tightrope for years in order to lead his party to this hat-trick victory.  In the words of a well-known television personality and columnist, taking liberties with a popular song, Pappu can dance, saala !

... contd.