Naveen Patnaik’s election as the president of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for the ninth time offers a reading of the problems nagging the party for some time now. That Patnaik, at 78, remains the party’s choice for leadership underlines the failure to let the second rung of leadership evolve. The attempt to position bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian as Patnaik’s successor was shelved after the BJP ran a successful campaign targeting........

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