Former Oppn leader Bhupinder Singh, who had deserted Cong in 2014 to join BJD, is reorganising the party structure after completing his Rajya Sabha term
Cuttack: Politicians who defect to other partiers often suffer ignominy. Some of them, interestingly, struggle to make their presence felt in the new outfit they join.
Several heavyweights including former chief minister Giridhara Gamang, fomer speaker Sarat Kar and erstwhile ministers Bijoy Mahapatra, Dillip Ray and Ramkrushna Patnaik, have snapped ties with their the parent parties and joined rival outfits in the past two decades. Some of them are facing identity crisis, suggested political pundits.
Former Opposition leader Bhupinder Singh had deserted Congress before general elections in 2014 to join Biju Janata Dal (BJD). Singh, at present, is reorganizing the party structure after completing his Rajya Sabha term.
Gamang and his son Sisir have quit Congress to join BJP, a couple of years ago, to secure their political future. However, the father-son duo is yet to get any significant assignment in the saffron party, said a political observer.
Jayaram Pangi, a tribal leader from Koraput, has recently deserted BJD to ‘‘strengthen’’ BJP.
Mahapatra and Ray who were once the frontline leaders of erstwhile Janata Dal had embraced BJP a few years ago. Both of them are yet to be recognized in the new party.
“Mahapatra and Ray were part of a secular setup in state. Hence, the BJP activists are reluctant to accept them wholeheartedly. Leaders like Ramakrushna Patnaik, Sarat Kar, Bimbadhar Kuanra, Prasant Nanda, Anup Sai and Umesh Swain are among the leaders who are struggling to establish their relevance in state politics after snapping ties with their parent parties,” said an analyst.
Political scientists are of the view that many Congress leaders had joined BJD and BJP recently as the grand old party has been facing electoral defeats in the past few years. “It was found that BJD leaders who had embraced BJP in recent years were being sidelined in the saffron party,” said Jyoti Prakash Palei, Ravenshaw University scholar.
Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, who had quit Janata Dal to join Congress in the early 2000s, is of the view that many leaders have lost their importance after changing their party. “I had begun my career as a Left leader. I joined Congress after Janata Dal withered away,” Mishra said.
Former speaker Sarat Kar claims that a leader often changes his political allegiance only when his parent party ignores him. “Now, no political party in the state has any discipline or democracy. Personality cult has afflicted all parties in India,” rued Kar.
Cuttack MP Bhatruhari Mahatab, however, opined that some leaders have managed to get important assignments after deserting their parent parties. “Birendra Singh of Haryana had left Congress and joined BJP. Singh has been inducted as a cabinet minister. A leader can do well only when he has full faith in the ideology and principles of a political outfit,” Mahatab said.
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