BHUBANESWAR: After Karnataka , Odisha becomes one of the key focus states for the BJP BJP president Amit Shah has earlier said his party’s golden age would not come till the BJP wins Odisha, Bengal and Kerala. BJP leaders here feel Odisha is more achievable since the Congress is decimated and Naveen Patnaik has the anti-incumbency of four terms.BJP president Basanta Panda said the south show will reverberate in the east. “The Karnataka performance will make people here repose their faith more on our party. We will intensify our efforts. There is no reason why people of Odisha will not give BJP a chance next year,” Panda said.The 147-member Odisha assembly goes to polls simultaneously with Lok Sabha in 2019.Panda said Odisha has already become a BJD versus BJP battle if one sees the last year’s panchayat elections and more recent Bijepur by-election in February. Moreover, anti-incumbency against Naveen is mounting, he said.But it’s easier said than done.Amareshwar Mishra, a retired professor of political science from Utkal University, said the Karnataka situation has no comparison with Odisha. “Karnataka had a BS Yeddyurappa, a former chief minister with mass base. The BJP here still doesn’t have a leader to match Naveen Patnaik’s charisma and stature though Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan may be pitted against Naveen,” he said. “In Odisha, the BJD is very strong and the Congress is very weak. The BJP can at best aspire for the main opposition space,” he added.Pointing out that Karnataka has never voted the incumbent in past more than three decades, Jayant Mohapatra, a retired professor of political science from Berhampur University, said the latest verdict is also for change of the incumbent Congress government. “It can’t be called vote for Modi-led BJP government,” he said, adding “I don’t think the verdict will have any significance for Odisha where Naveen still enjoys mass support.”The BJD feels Odisha is a different ball game where Naveen continues to remain popular. BJD spokesperson Amar Prasad Satpathy said polls in Karnataka and elsewhere in the country will have no bearing in Odisha. “When there was talk of Narenda Modi wave across the country in 2014, our party won 20 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats and 117 out of 147 assembly seats. Our fundamentals are strong. The Naveen government continues to remain popular because of its pro-poor pro-active approach. Karnataka results would not have any impact on Odisha,” Satpathy said.Notably, after the BJP’s defeat in the Lok Sabha by-elections in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats in March, Naveen had observed “The BJP is sinking quite fast.” He is yet to react on Karnataka verdict.Though the Congress party’s drubbing in the southern state comes as sequel to its continued debacle in successive elections, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik said his party will benefit from the anti-incumbency against Naveen the way BJP benefited from anti-incumbency against Congress government in Karnataka. To many this may look like an overstatement given the grand old party’s dwindling fortune across country and its state of affairs here.

Stay updated with all the Latest Bhubaneswar headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.