Even I am amazed that BJP not winning much seat in Odisha...
Although people there are Hardcore Hindus and no one cares a Damn about secularism ...
I have went to Odisha a couple of times... even the Tribals are very much hardcore Hindus ...
But one thing to notice is that Although Naveen Paatanaik claims himself to be very Secular ... Still the BJD is basically a softcore Hindutva party ... The local BJD leaders dont Tolerate Missionaries much ...
But BJP if tries well can easily become a another rightwing opposition in Odisha...
Nairji actually hindu sentiment never worked in odisha bcoz here more than 95% are hindu,it got a very negligible minority population, even the adivasis over here has been practicing hinduism since long decade .
The problem with odisha is both the national party neglected the state very often jus like north east,it biju pattnaik or most recently naveen who put odisha on a national figure by implementing pro business and industrialization policies,so it is very much a right wing gov so polarisation never worked over here,
Naveen pattnaik is the only CM in india who is rulling a state for 15 yrs without knowing its mother tongue(odia),only due to his non corrupt image and pro business policies.
It doesnt mean dat der is no corruption in odisha, der r a lots of dem but it is overshadowed by naveen image ,jus like sivraj in MP.
It is not only naveen factor which has been keep holding the gov so long but the actual fact is the two national partys always neglected it and never try to find or groom a vehement face to oppose BJD, so you can hardly find any charismatic or harangue leader in the opposition .
The single reason why Naveen is ruling unanimously since last 15 yrs is the absence of optimal opposition party .
BJP had disseminated well in 1999 election in all over odisha at the time of BJP-BJD alliance in time of AB vajpayee ji and able to got 9 out of 21 in dat loksabha ,but it starts deteriorating in organization level after the breaking of alliance.
The main reason behind this divorce is the rebellion minister and popularly known as the king maker of BJD and naveen "Pyari Mohan Mahapatra" who was also regarded as even more power full than naveen in BJD at those time,
for this, later on he tried to topple the goverment after man handling a big chunk of mlas but failed to do it and now out of the party and started a new one called "ODISHA JANA MORCHA" and speculation is der tha it want to ally with BJP in state lavel assembly election.
Actually BJP got a good hold in the western part of odisha(where i hail from) bcoz it adjacent to CHasgrh and MP.
So SANGHA have good hold over here,i used to attend sakhas in my home town Sambalpur.But slowly BJD and CONG also ate up all seats over here in 2009.
But one thing to be noted here is that unlike bihar and JDU here in odisha the workers,corporaters,mlas even ministers of BJD have a good relation with BJP's,they even helped each other in last minicipality election,
so the revival formula for BJP over here may be some sort of internal alliance with BJD like giv bjd in assembly but bjp in loksabha,and this thing can be done only by some senior high command of BJP like jately,rajnath or team MODI itself.
By this way we can persuade naveen also to join NDA and got som 15 extra seats.
And this can only be possible when the guys of BJP make a good contact and repo with PREM pattanaik the elder brother of naveen who is staying right now in delhi and who has actually brought the business houses to odisha for his younger brother.