Naveen Patnaik gets BJD back in battle mode, steps up ground outreach

After suffering losses in Assembly elections and setbacks as leaders left the party in the post-2024 scenario, BJD leader and former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik is getting battle-ready again with new political alignments and ground outreach.

On October 2, Patnaik launched the BJD's month-long statewide 'Jana Sampark Padayatra', which will cover all districts of the state. Patnaik himself launched the yatra from the Ekamra and, in his address, launched a fierce attack on the BJP government in the state.

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Patnaik has also changed the party's strategy at the national level. On Tuesday, after TMC leader Mamata Banerjee called him, he sent two of his Rajya Sabha MPs, Manas Maharaj and Sulata Deo, to participate in the Opposition's protest against CEC Gyanesh Kumar in Delhi.This marked a departure from the BJD's earlier stand of maintaining equal distance from both NDA and the INDIA bloc at the national level. The two BJD leaders, however, maintained that the party was still not part of the INDIA bloc. On Friday, Patnaik addressed a large rally in Bhubaneswar during the 'Jana Sampark Padayatra', launching a scathing attack on the Majhi government in the state.

Meanwhile, Patnaik has been regularly holding closed-door meetings with newly announced office-bearers of different party cells. In his speeches and meetings, he is also making it clear that he will lead the party in the next elections.