Bhubaneswar: Hitherto considered as the unchallenged leader of ruling BJD, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was jolted by a whiff of revolt in 2012, as the year also witnessed a spate of abductions in Odisha with Maoists using them as a new weapon to clinch their demands.
Rocked by scams in many areas including iron ore and coal mining, the year was also marked by sluggish industrial activity, shut-down of units and a neglected farm sector amid charges of distress sale of paddy by farmers.
The tranquil in politics was stirred after many years as Patnaik, enjoying his third consecutive term as chief minister even without facing a whisper of dissent from anyone in BJD, was shaken by an alleged aborted coup bid against his government on May 29 when he was away on a foreign visit.
Seeking to nip in the bud any dissidence, the BJD supremo sacked some ministers and suspended some others from the party including MP Pyarimohan Mohapatra, considered the chief strategist of Patnaik in politics as well as governance for over 12 years on charge of engineering a coup.
Bureaucrat-turned-politician Mohapatra, who denied any coup bid and claimed that the gathering at his place was to strengthen inner democracy in BJD, later formed Odisha Jana Morcha (OJM) describing it as a platform within the ruling party aimed at reforming and democratising the organisation.
BJD politics apart, the year saw resurgence in main Opposition Congress, which remained virtually dormant for years, with a massive rally in the state capital in September highlighting alleged misrule and corruption by Naveen Patnaik regime.
It was followed by a series of rallies elsewhere as part of efforts to rejuvenate the party ebfore the 2014 polls. BJP, which remained marginalised ever since BJD severed ties with it, was hit by infighting as the race for state unit chief hotted up.
Left Wing extremism took a disturbing turn with Maoists throwing an open challenge to security forces by kidnapping two Italian nationals and a BJD MLA.
In an calculated move, the red rebels kidnapped Italians Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo while the two were trekking in the picturesque Daringbadi area of tribal-dominated Kandhamal district in March. Barely 10 days later, ruling BJD legislator from Laxmipur Jhina Hikaha was abducted by armed ultras of a different group in Koraput district, close to Andhra Pradesh, throwing security arrangements for elected representatives into an embarrassing redundancy.
As the twin abductions exposed fragility in security preparedness to deal with ultras, the incidents followed high drama involving hard bargaining by Maoist-selected mediators to secure the release of the hostages in phases.
While Colangelo was set free after spending about 11 days in captivity, Bosusco was released after prolonged negotiations on April 12.
However, 37-year-old tribal MLA Hikaka had to languish for over a month in the captivity of Maoists before he was freed on April 27 as his captors were not keen to join any talks and used release of letters and audio tapes through the media to place their demands before the government.
Notwithstanding Patnaik’s claim about a “progressive improvement” in Naxal situation, a vast stretch of red corridor in Odisha turned a safe sanctuary for Maoists on the run from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. Though DGP Prakash Mishra claimed major successes against Naxals saying eight of the 17 Maoist-affected districts are now free from the menace, violence by the red rebels continued. (PTI)