Corruption as an issue does not seem to be cutting much ice with the voters in Odisha even as the two main opposition parties, the BJP and Congress, are trying very hard to make it the foremost issue in targeting the longest serving Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik led government in the state.

According to the observers, this is due to the fact that the opposition lacks the credibility to raise the issue.

In 2014, BJP stalwarts like Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Dharmendra Pradhan and others had promised that if voted to power they would jail all those involved in multi-crore scams.

The Justice MB Shah Commission, instituted by the Centre, had already established the plunder of iron ore that had taken place for several years and recommended a CBI probe.

The electoral rhetoric in 2014 was such that Singh and Pradhan had said that Naveen Patnaik will meet the same fate as Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda. Now, in 2019, the same BJP and the same leaders, including party president Amit Shah, are toeing the same line over the past few weeks that “we will jail all of them in 90 days of assuming power” while asking for the votes, begging the question what were they doing for five years since they were at the power.

The CBI, ED and other central agencies had all failed to nail the culprits in five years time.

Political exigencies – support of BJD MPs in the parliament – overruled the promise to book the corrupt and the voter was wary of this, say political pundits.

PM Narendra Modi added the coal block case to the list of corruption cases against Naveen Patnaik and Pradhan in almost every election speech, stated how the BJD leaders were involved in chit fund and mining scams have been given tickets by the BJD president Naveen Patnaik. The keys to the treasury of the state have been handed over to the Tamil mining mafia, he had alleged.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, in his campaign meetings, has now fished out a case dating back to 2009 relating to MV Black Rose, a ship illegally transporting iron ore from Paradip Port which had sunk off the Paradip coast, as alleged. “We will expedite a CBI probe into the case, said Gadkari, while alleging that a BJD leader was involved in the illegal transport of ore.

The height of it all came from former DGP Odisha, Prakash Mishra, who is contesting as a BJP candidate for the Cuttack LS seat. He suddenly revealed that he had been shunted out from the DGP post by Naveen Patnaik because he had recommended chit fund cases to be registered under the money laundering act to facilitate ED investigation.

The likes of Arun Singh add another set of warning by naming a few IAS and IPS officers saying they will be behind bars as they have turned political agents of the ruling BJD.

The Congress tried its bit by talking of the Rafale deal and corruption in the state BJD government, but it is so far behind in the electoral race that nobody has attached much importance to what the Congress was saying.

Naveen Patnaik has not uttered a word on corruption during the campaign. He has not even whispered Rafale, Vijay Mallya, or Nirav Modi etc.

Perhaps, the only corruption-related issue that has had some impact was the “PC culture” (fixed percentage of bribe against every government work). But once again it was CM Naveen Patnaik who had flagged it and promised to end the PC culture.

Just like 2014, the post-poll 2019 arithmetic and “political convenience” will have the final say irrespective of the promise to bring the corrupt to book and the voter is well aware of it.