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Many discussions are being held regarding the future of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which is out of power in Odisha. In view of Naveen Patnaik’s increasing age, ill health and opposition from VK Pandian, BJD was looking for a face. Now it seems that BJD has found that face in Sujata Raut. Former IAS officer Sujata Raut has been one of the officers close to Naveen Patnaik. Another specialty is that she is the wife of VK Pandian and is a resident of Odisha. This is the reason why BJD has decided to field him. When she joined BJD on Thursday, Naveen Patnaik also praised her. It is believed that she will run BJD in the times to come and the party will also contest future elections on her face.

On the occasion of Sujata joining the party, she herself and Naveen Patnaik also talked about the work done for women. Other party leaders also welcomed him with open arms and welcome. This is indicating that Sujatha’s role is going to be bigger and slowly but surely she is going to take charge of the party.

After Sujata Raut joining BJD, Naveen Patnaik said, ‘I am sure that as time passes and she will get used to her new position. She will learn to help people and especially women. I will lead Biju Janata Dal in the next elections. I want to make this very clear.

Will Sujata Raut save us from external stains?

When VK Pandian was included in BJD, the opposition as well as many party leaders opposed him. VK Pandian comes from Tamil Nadu and this was the thing going against him. Now BJD has put forward Sujatha Raut to get rid of this issue. She originally comes from Odisha and has served her 25 years only in Odisha. Secondly, Sujata Raut’s image as an officer has been very good and this image of hers can be useful for BJD.

Women voters are also a target to push Sujata Raut forward. When BJD was considered defeated in the elections in 2024, one of the reasons for this was believed to be that women voters moved towards BJP and BJD suffered loss due to this. In Odisha, which has 147 assembly seats, BJP got 78 seats and BJD got 51 seats. BJD was 23 seats short of majority.

If we look at the difference of votes, BJD had got more votes while BJP had got less votes. BJD got 10,102,454 votes and BJP got 10,064,827 votes. At the same time, Congress had won only 14 seats and 3 independent MLAs had won. It shows that BJD lost the election by a very narrow margin and was out of power after a long gap. In such a situation, BJD does not want to miss any issue.

Preparation to groom women

BJD, which has been winning with the help of women voters for a long time, is now preparing to recover from the setback it faced in 2024. In this 2024 election, 75.55 women and 73.37 men voted. In that election, BJP had paid special attention to women and had made a tremendous strategy to attract women voters. BJP had announced Subhadra Scheme for women. It is believed that this scheme turned women voters in favor of BJP and BJD was left behind in this matter.

Apart from this, there was also the anti-incumbency factor of almost two and a half decades which harmed BJD. Due to VK Pandian being influential, many party leaders were angry and they also opposed Pandian. BJP also seized it well and raised the issue loudly that Naveen Patnaik’s health was bad and Pandian himself was aspiring to become the Chief Minister. BJP also raised the issue of him being from Tamil Nadu and this issue also caused a lot of damage to BJD.

Who is Sujata Raut?

Sujata Raut, a 2000 batch IAS officer, left the civil service on March 13, 2025. Before that it was discussed that he and VK Pandian together ran the government of Odisha. She had led ‘Mission Shakti’ in Naveen Patnay’s government and had also become quite popular among women. Due to her closeness to Navani Patnaik and being the wife of VK Vandian, it is believed that BJP is now putting her forward.

Sujata, a graduate in Political Science from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, has been a university topper. He had obtained a master’s degree in Political Science from JNU. When VK Pandian was repeatedly accused of being an outsider and he announced his withdrawal from politics, there was a search for a face and now Sujatha has emerged as that face.