New BJP govt in Odisha hits the ground running, but what major challenges does it face?

On the issue of the missing keys of the temple’s “Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove)”, which the BJP had used to target the Patnaik government, the party has promised to publicise an inquiry report into the matter. Besides, it also promised to open the Ratna Bhandar for a fresh inventory of the precious jewels stored in it — last done in 1978 — but no decision was made at the Cabinet meeting.

The state Cabinet also approved the implementation of two of its major poll promises within 100 days — increasing the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy to Rs 3,100 per quintal and Subhadra Yojana, under which it has promised to provide a voucher of Rs 50,000 to every woman that can be encashed in two years. During the campaign, both these promises helped the BJP gain traction. Government officials said both promises would impose a “considerable financial burden” on the state exchequer.

The alleged discrepancies in paddy procurement helped the party tap into farmers’ growing discontent against the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), particularly in its strongholds in western Odisha. Farmers account for more than 80% of the state’s population.

“We are committed to implementing all the promises made in our manifesto. Being a state with an over Rs 2-lakh annual Budget, we don’t think funding will be a problem. The new council of ministers will rethink many programmes launched by the previous BJD government involving a huge financial burden and prepare its plan, prioritising implementation of its promises,” said a senior BJP leader.

The major tasks ahead

But several challenges await the government. In the next month, the first major task for the government will be to prepare its Budget, which is expected to be presented in the Assembly in July. Sources in the state finance department said a team had begun the work on the Budget, which will be finetuned in consultation with the new government.

One of the BJP’s major narratives against the Patnaik government was large-scale vacancies in the state government departments. The BJP promised to fill 1.5 lakh government vacancies, including 65,000 posts in the first two years. “Though there are huge vacancies in various departments, conducting recruitment drives in a fair and transparent manner will be a great challenge. Besides, it also requires huge budgetary support to fill these vacancies,” said a senior bureaucrat.

The government also has to take a call on the BJD administration’s many populist schemes that had made it popular among the rural poor and other targeted groups. The Patnaik government’s Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) was a popular health insurance scheme that entitled beneficiaries to coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh in treatment costs (Rs 10 lakh for women). The BJP has promised to implement the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme in the first 100 days of its government.

With its promise to create 25 lakh “Lakhpati Didis” by 2027, the BJP managed to garner support from women and the self-help group (SHG) vote base in villages. However, keeping their support intact will be a challenge for the new dispensation. Nearly 70 lakh women in SHGs, organised under the Odisha government’s Mission Shakti initiative, were considered the BJD’s committed vote base until this election.

“The BJP’s promise to create 25 lakh Lakhpati Didis by creating industrial clusters for every 500 SHGs, where it has assured facility management for product marketing and promotion, seems to have gained much traction among the SHGs. To keep their support intact, the government should start working on this,” said a bureaucrat.