Cong red-faced as BJP wrests tribal base

This election has, on the other hand, established the BJP as a party with a support base in all sections of the people. The party, which had made a serious attempt at electoral politics in the state only a decade back, has now made heavy inroads into the traditional votebanks of the Congress. Once described by late Biju Patnaik as a signboard party, BJP has strongly entrenched itself in rural pockets. It has shattered the myth of the Congress being the party of the STs and SCs bywresting the Nowrangpur seat from it for the first time after nine general elections.

That the BJP has established a strong tribal base is apparent from the election results of Koraput, Berhampur and other tribal-dominated Lok Sabha seats. A margin of a little over 12,000 votes by which Hema Gamang, wife of Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, won from Koraput is no solace for the Congress. The Congress has also lost the Berhampur seat, which has a heavy concentration of tribal votes, to BJP, proving that there has been a steady erosion in its pocketborough. In other seats like Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar, the Congress had hardly put up any fight, resulting in its candidates losing by huge margins. The debacle of the Congress in the tribal pockets, with two tribal leaders CM Giridhar Gamang and OPCC chief Hemananda Biswal heading the government and the organisation has caused Congressmen a great deal of embarrassment. Two different opinions have come up in the Congress camp on the party’s debacle. Oneis about the well-known Vajpayee wave. A majority of Congress leaders, including Biswal, subscribe to this view. However, Gamang and his supporters believe that the campaign launched by the BJP-BJD against him for participating in the confidence vote and the foreign origin of party chief Sonia Gandhi had led to debacle.

Political observers, however, believe that the Vajpayee wave coupled with the non-performance of the ruling Congress was responsible. Though BJD leaders admit that the Vajpayee wave played a major role, they maintain that the legacy of late Biju Patnaik had also influenced the voters. However, whether the BJD can continue to ride piggy-back on the BJP will be seen in the coming Assembly polls due before March.