A legacy battle erupts: Rival occasions on Biju Patnaik’s dying anniversary arrange political face-off | India Information
3 min learnBhubaneswarApr 17, 2026 07:28 AM IST
Former chief minister Biju Patnaik’s twenty ninth dying anniversary has was a political flashpoint in Odisha, with rival camps planning parallel occasions.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which has noticed the day since its inception, will commemorate it this yr as ‘Prabada Purusha Dibasa’ throughout the state’s 147 constituencies, with seminars on Biju Babu’s position within the freedom wrestle and in shaping trendy Odisha.
Triggering the political face-off is a parallel programme by a gaggle of Biju loyalists sidelined from the BJD over time. The leaders—former Union minister Dilip Ray, lately elected to the Rajya Sabha; senior chief Bijoy Mohapatra; editor-politician Soumya Ranjan Patnaik; Amar Satpathy; and Pravat Tripathy, amongst others—have come collectively beneath the banner of Odisha Nagarika Mancha, a non-political residents’ discussion board, and plan to look at the anniversary on a big scale for the primary time.
Most of those leaders had united to type the BJD after Biju Patnaik’s dying on April 17, 1997, however had been later sidelined for varied causes. They keep that Biju Babu belongs to all of Odisha, not any single celebration.
A number of BJD MLAs who lately cross-voted within the Rajya Sabha polls in favour of Dilip Ray have additionally mentioned they’ll attend the occasion. “Individuals who admire Biju Babu will come collectively to commemorate the day and to deliberate on the ideologies of Biju Babu. We have now invited everybody. There may be nothing political about it,” mentioned senior chief Bijoy Mohapatra.
Whereas leaders of the discussion board say its intention is to additional Biju Patnaik’s imaginative and prescient for Odisha’s improvement and energise civil society, the regrouping of disgruntled BJD leaders—particularly after Ray’s Rajya Sabha victory—carries clear political overtones. Ray can also be anticipated to attend the occasion.
A standard thread among the many discussion board’s distinguished faces is that each one had been as soon as influential within the BJD however had been later marginalised.
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With many struggling to retain political relevance, Ray’s victory over the BJD is seen as a rallying level. Some have hinted at a brand new political alignment in Odisha, although readability is predicted within the coming months.
The BJD, which misplaced energy after ruling the state for twenty-four years, can also be grappling with inside dissent, with veteran leaders brazenly questioning its functioning. Sources say the discussion board may emerge as a platform for such leaders.
“There is no such thing as a inside democracy in BJD. Energy is being centralized with a couple of people, who name the photographs as per their comfort. Although it was anticipated that the celebration would study from its errors from 2024 defeats and make structural modifications, nothing modified. Many see that the celebration has no future,” mentioned a senior chief, who shouldn’t be very energetic in BJD.
The BJD criticised the citizen discussion board’s transfer, asserting that Naveen Patnaik is the true heir of Biju’s legacy. Senior BJD chief Arun Sahoo mentioned makes an attempt to make use of Biju Babu’s title for political achieve wouldn’t succeed.
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