The local election results clearly suggested that the 63 assembly seats allotted to the BJP needed downward revision. Patnaik was concerned that the BJP no longer had the clout to put up a meaningful fight against the Congress. He genuinely feared that an indifferent BJP performance would lead to the alliance losing its majority in the assembly. Based on the elections to local bodies, he calculated that the BJD was now the number one party in Orissa, strong enough to defeat the fractured challenge of the Congress and BJP.

The decline of the BJP in Orissa, the BJD believed, was also linked to the questionable reputation of some of its ministers. Over the past two years, prominent BJP ministers, including a former state president, have had to resign following revelations of their colourful personal lives.

Patnaik’s greatest political asset is his unimpeachable integrity. His government may not be as dynamic and efficient as, say, the one run by Narendra Modi in Gujarat. However, there is quiet public appreciation of the chief minister’s personal uprightness and his intolerance of corruption. The BJD was apprehensive that Patnaik’s untainted image would be diluted by some rotten apples in the basket. The surgical detachment of deviants has enabled Patnaik to combine his “good man” image with a “strong man” reputation.Earlier, the weeding out process was largely confined to his own party. Now he has extended it dramatically to the whole alliance, not least because the BJP did not undertake its own internal spring cleaning.

... contd.