Another scion of the Balangir royal family seems to be gearing up to make his debut in the 2014 polls.
Arkesh Narayan Singhdeo, son of Balangir MLA AU Singhdeo, was seen accompanying his elder brother and Balangir MP Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo, during his visit to Tarbha on October 26.
Although it was long being discussed and expected, the royal family of late seems keen on bringing Arkesh to public life and grooming him for ensuing Assembly election. While political observers feel that the visit of Arkesh along with his brother Kalikesh has made the plans of the royal family clear, they opined that he could be eyeing Sonepur Assembly segment as Kalikesh has committed a large number of projects out of his MPLAD funds for the area.
During his visit to Tarbha, Kalikesh promised to provide ` 66 lakh for piped drinking water project to the town, a generator for Tarbha CHC for uninterrupted power supply and a children’s park. He also attended a meeting of the senior citizens and addressed a public meeting in Jarajaring village under Pua gram panchayat besides laying foundation stones for projects in his constituency. All through he looked testing the waters.
In his address, he openly asked people to bless his brother Arkesh just the way they have bestowed on his grandfather R N Singhdeo, father A U Singhdeo and him. And this triggered a debate on the entry of Arkesh into politics in the district.
And AU Singhdeo’s rapport with Naveen Patnaik being no secret, political observers feel that it is Niranjan Pujari who will be axed to pave way to Arkesh. Under the circumstances Pujari will be fielded from a new segment.
Birmaharajpur segment is reserved for SCs and represented by former BJD minister Padmanabh Behera. Political observers feel that in case the BJD leadership decides to field Arkesh, intra-party dissension is bound to erupt even though it will not make much of a difference with people of Gadjat
area known for their support to the royal family in the past.