A legislator from the Biju Jana Dal, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik has created a flutter in the party by saying something which smells of a revolt within him.

Patnaik, who owns a huge media network, wrote in his columns on Monday last that, things within the BJD suffer from a monopolized structural syndrome as a few bureaucrats and few close leaders from the party are principally running the entire administrative and political functioning.

In which he has made an apparent swipe at Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his alleged over-dependence on the coterie and his complete inaccessibility to his political colleagues including ministers.        

It would not be out of place to mention here that, Soumya Ranjan in his entire political career has always played political footsie when he finds his political ambitions deterred.

Once upon a time he was a staunch Congressman, then entered the Bharatiya Janata Party, and afterward, he floated a regional outfit.

His stints in the Congress and the BJP were fraught with schism and he was ultimately shown the doors from both parties.

With the experiment with an Independent outfit, neither he achieved political prominence nor had any electoral success in those years of isolation.      

As reported, he has made a frontal attack on the chief minister who, allegedly getting misled by the close coterie and his performance over the Covid control now appears wanting.   

As it appears, he has joined the league of old and ousted revolting members of the BJD, those who wittingly or otherwise, had always gone into a state of the slumber of eminence before waking up! 

All the leaders who took the exit route had something in common. All of them used the rare view mirror and poured the abuses at the party`s doorstep and tried to cleanse themselves and leave.

Does He Suffer From Inferiority Complex?

In the case of Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, in his long political innings, he remained in a perpetual battle with his own conscience and choice. 

A man who has been running a huge media setup, and even after some stints in active politics, suddenly cannot exhibit such moral anguish as if he is a political novice.

 In fact, none of the deserters from the party had any early problems with the patterns with which the party supremo and chief minister Naveen Patnaik handles the affairs both political and administrative.

Everything was pitch-perfect and everything was good before they all became members of BJD but, interestingly, in all the cases it could be noticed that each of them made similar allegations and then left.

Not to be economical with the truth, politics is all about opportunism and the leaders who paratroop into it for obvious reasons, turn disillusioned one fine morning.

And it is getting so repetitious in Indian politics and so brazen that, the parties or their heads pay no heed to such jibes nor in today’s politics, there is time for such obvious afterthoughts like in the case of Soumya Ranjan.

 Cannot Have The Cake And Eat It Too

It may be recalled here that, there had been numerous occasions when Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, had raised his hackles against the parties’ ideological scruples and made his exit. Whichever party it was.

As an editor he has every ethical right to disseminate his views on any political party but, one cannot expect sailing in two boats! Or you have the cake and eat it too.

It is no secret that Soumya Ranjan Patnaik had been trying his best to win the Khandapara seat as MLA for long but, down the years he could not break into the bastion as an Independent candidate despite his tireless efforts.

But it was like a click of a mouse that fate smiled on him when he re-entered Khandapara under the banner of Naveen Patnaik.     

Once you join a party when your own political yacht has been rocking for some years, one must make a subtle sense of balanced uniformity in one’s approach to both. Either be a journalist or a party loyalist.

If at all, then the dividing line between professional ethics and political allegiance should be immeasurable.

Silence From Top

BJD supremo, Naveen Patnaik, has been working with his set pattern of political and administrative formula right from the beginning, as little, it is understood. Hence there was no room for any concealment of the due diligence.

On that note, things under his leadership have been running smoothly and his popularity has always remained a heart burning for his detractors and a cause of trust for the people of the state.

It is the delivery that matters and one cannot expect in any political structure to rest on the completely flawless functioning of an administration, be it politics or executive. 

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