BHUBANESHWAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party 's performance in the ongoing Odisha rural polls has come as a surprise to everyone, including to the party itself. Speaking at a rally in Kannauj in UP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked the people of Odisha from where the BJP had just one Lok Sabha MP for their "unprecedented support".As counting for the second of the five phases of polling in the Panchayat polls was underway, the good run continued with BJP winning zila parishads it was not pegged too.On Monday, the ruling Biju Janata Dal was believed to have won 110 of the 188 zilla parishad seats for which voting had taken place in the first phase. The BJP had won 60 with four more phases yet to be completed. Compare that to the 36, of the 854 zilla parishads that the BJP won in total in 2012 when BJD secured 651 and the Indian National Congress stood second with 128. The official results of the three- tiered elections for the posts of zila parishads, sarpanches and panchayat samite members will be announced only on February 23 and 25.In private the BJP’s own men had predicted a clean sweep for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik before the polls, and a no-show for themselves. Only in January, party president Amit Shah had dropped by to visit the Shankaracharya of Puri but would not comment on the panchayat elections . This was widely interpreted as the party preparing for the worst. If the BJP gained, said these analysts, it would be from the crisis of leadership of the Indian National Congress and as some Congress leaders candidly admit now a shortage of funds.What neither the BJP nor Naveen Patnaik had clearly accounted for was the setback for the BJD from infighting and the unpopularity of sitting local leaders. Kalahandi was one such an example where the BJP on Wednesday swept all nine of the zilla parishads. Several Ministers in Patnaik’s government would also have a lot to answer for but for the fact that MLAS and Ministers in Patnaik’s government are said to play second fiddle to bureaucrats. A fact highlighted by the fact that Patnaik’s camp chose to send filmstars to campaign further undermining local leaders, complained a party person who asked not to be named.To the BJP’s credit its leaders, including Union Minister for Petroleum and Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, campaigned extensively despite the odds. The party also very bravely got Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh and Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das to pitch for them in the districts bordering their states.Under the supervision of Saudan Sing, National Joint General Secretary (Organisation), they matched and outdid BJD efforts and investment in areas that held promise. Patnaik whose MLAs occupy 117 of the 147 assembly seats will still be ahead when these polls end but he will have a serious problem on hand if the BJP, even if for no credit of its own, ends up making significant inroads into coastal Odisha.