Opinion | Voted Out Of Office, Hit By Big-Ticket Defections: Can Naveen Patnaik’s BJD Survive Serial Shocks?

File image of former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, who remains the most popular leader in the state.

Source : PTI

On 11 June 2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in Odisha by defeating the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which had led the state for over 24 years. Even as the BJD was yet to recover from the electoral drubbing at the hands of its former ally, its Rajya Sabha member Mamata Mahanta, 48, shocked the party leadership by resigning from the Upper House as well as the party on 31 July. Within no time, Mahanta joined the BJP, which sent her back to the Rajya Sabha on 27 August through a