Bhubaneswar: Former Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik’s physical fitness and his determination to revive the fortunes of his party that was ousted from power in 2024, following a shock defeat at the hands of BJP, were in focus as he addressed a farmers’ rally in Bhubaneswar in sweltering heat on Tuesday (February 24).The 79-year-old leader, whose health often sparks speculation in the media with political adversaries taking pot-shots at him, appeared unperturbed by the heat. Instead, he slammed the Mohan Charan Majhi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for gross mismanagement in paddy procurement which has farmers up in arms across the state. Addressing the “Chasi Suraksha (Save Farmer)” rally, the first major political event organised by the BJD in the state since its defeat in the Nuapada assembly by-poll last year, the five-time chief minister appeared to be in his elements, lashing out at the BJP for making a mockery of the slogan of “Jai Kisan”.“They raise the slogan of ‘Jai Kisan’, but in practice it has become ‘Bhago Kisan’,” he said and reminded chief minister Majhi that a government is judged by its performance and not the empty promises it makes to the people. The rally took place barely a few metres from the state assembly where the budget session is currently underway with treasury benches and the BJD-led opposition clashing regularly over a raft of issues including farmers’ woes and rising crime against women.To the surprise of many, Patnaik, who generally prefers to operate from the cool confines of his residence Naveen Nivas, has suddenly become quite active physically, mingling freely with people and attending even social events. At one of these functions recently he was seen enjoying “pani puri” much to the amusement of those watching him. A video of Patnaik relishing “pani puris” went viral on social media. A lover of art and literature, the former chief minister also took time out recently to visit the local Lalit Kala Academy to appreciate the solo art exhibition of acclaimed artist Jagannath Panda. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Naveen Patnaik (@naveen_odisha)Patnaik, once criticized by his political opponents for not being punctual with his attendance in the state assembly, has surprised everyone by listening to debates intently and also making interesting observations. After hearing chief minister Majhi’s marathon budget speech on February 20, Patnaik came out with a witty remark to sum up his feelings about the budget while interacting with the media. “It is a full menu in an empty kitchen,” quipped the former chief minister.Unsparing in his criticism of the government, he alleged that the BJP government was pushing the state towards mounting debt and financial instability while making tall promises to the people. At his witty best, Patnaik remarked that BJP’s double-engine government was taking Odisha in the reverse direction.Significantly, the new aggressive avatar of Patnaik has come to the fore ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections where stakes remain high for both the BJD and the ruling BJP. Four Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant in Odisha with the terms of Mamata Mohanta, Sujeet Kumar, Muzibullah Khan and Niranjan Bishi coming to an end. Interestingly Mamata and Sujeet were originally elected to the Upper House on BJD tickets but defected to the BJP following the regional party’s defeat and ouster from power in 2024.Hence, the first major challenge for Patnaik is finding a candidate who can be relied upon to remain loyal to the party as the BJP leadership continues to look for ways to poach leaders of the main opposition party in a bid to break it. Apart from Sujeet and Mamata, BJD leader and former Rajya Sabha member Amar Patnaik also defected to the saffron party a few months ago.However, Patnaik is now more determined than ever to frustrate BJP’s attempts to lure away his party leaders, especially ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled for March 16. His determination in this regard was reflected in his recent move to suspend two of his party MLAs – Aravind Mohapatra and Sanatan Mahakud – for alleged anti-party activities. Sources said the BJD chief sought to punish the duo after being convinced that they were part of a plan to engineer cross-voting in favour of the BJP in the elections to the Upper House. Incidentally Aravind Mohapatra happens to be the son of Patnaik’s bête noire, former minister Bijay Mohapatra who was the political affairs committee chairperson of BJD when the party was founded in 1997 following the death of Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik.While taking action against the two MLAs ,Patnaik must have been reminded of the Rajya Sabha elections in 2002 when more than a dozen BJD MLAs had defied his directive to vote for independent candidate Dilip Ray who got elected purely on the strength of cross-voting.Given the current numerical strength of different political parties in the state assembly, the BJP with 79 MLAs of its own and the support of three independents is certain to win two of the four seats at stake as each seat requires 30 first preference votes. Similarly the BJD with its 48 MLA ( excluding the two suspended MLAs) can easily bag one seat on its own strength. The focus, thus, remains on the fourth seat which neither of the parties can win on the strength of their own first preference votes.Interestingly, the Congress, which has 14 MLAs in the Odisha assembly, has decided to field a candidate in an obvious bid to put pressure on BJD to vote in favour of its candidate whose name is yet to be announced. However, that seems highly unlikely considering that BJD continues to maintain a policy of equidistance from both Congress and BJP.While that makes the contest for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat quite interesting the focus would also be on the candidate Patnaik decides to choose to represent his party in the Upper House. Currently the two names doing the rounds are that of Santrupta Mishra, who was the BJD’s Lok Sabha candidate from Cuttack in 2024 and former minister Debi Prasad Mishra. Yet another name being discussed, though in hushed tones, is that of former IAS officer Sujata Kartikeyan, wife of Patnaik’s former aide V.K. Pandian.For quite some time now there has been speculation about Sujata stepping into politics to assist Patnaik in running the day-to-day affairs of BJD which needs an efficient second-in-command, trusted by the top leader, ahead of the panchayat elections due early next year. The rural polls are taken seriously by all the parties as they are seen as a barometer of their popularity.However, while Sujata’s entry into politics remains in the realm of speculation there is hardly any doubt left about Patnaik’s changed approach towards politics and leadership with the BJD rank and file watching his new avatar with a mixture of awe and admiration. “He is our supreme leader and we have always wanted him to be proactive and aggressive when there is need to be so. We are extremely happy that he has now decided to take the bull by its horns. We expect this approach to yield dividends for the party,” said former minister and senior BJD leader Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak. BJD general secretary Bijay Nayak echoed the same views. “We know that BJP is nervous after seeing Naveen Babu in his aggressive form. But it is good for our party. We are confident about making a comeback under his leadership,” remarked Nayak.Political analyst Shashi Kant Mishra also feels that the change in Patnaik’s approach towards politics would augur well for his party. “They lost the 2024 elections because they could not match the aggressive campaign of BJP. In order to bounce back BJD has to take the fight into the enemy camp,” said Mishra.