He may have been in active politics for just 12 years, but 62-year-old Naveen Patnaik’s political acumen is well on a par with those with decades more experience as became evident when his BJD won 13 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 103 of 147 Assembly seats. In fact, the BJD swept 71 of the 77 seats in the second phase of Assembly polls.

Easily one of the most underestimated and understated politicians of the country, Naveen’s hat-trick win in the Orissa Assembly election should settle the debate on his political maturity. No politician in Orissa, even stalwarts J B Patnaik and Naveen’s father Biju ever scored hat-trick wins.

Having won the biggest political gamble of his career by dropping long-time ally BJP and fighting alone in the 2009 elections, Naveen has showed that he has a sense of timing that can stump anyone.

But what was the combination of factors that allowed Naveen to buck anti-incumbency? While his record as CM is not exactly sparkling e — the Orissa Economic Survey 2008-09 said that 39.90 per cent of the population is BPL — some development schemes came to the rescue.

Naveen himself admitted on Sunday that the pro-poor programmes like the Rs 2-per-kg rice scheme and his call for peace and harmony were instrumental in the win of BJD. BJD legislator Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said the party was aware of the winning potential of the rice scheme when people applauded it in election meetings. “The subsidised rice poached upon the social constituency of both the Congress and the BJP. A large number of tribal and Dalit voters simply drifted away to the BJD by this,” said Nayak.

... contd.