KENDRAPARA: The imminent defeat of national vice-president of BJP Baijayant Panda from the prestigious Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat at the hands of BJD Rajya Sabha member and Ollywood actor Anubhav Mohanty has come as a blow for the saffron party.
During his campaign in Kendrapara, BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik went all guns blazing to ensure the defeat of his bete noire Baijyant. The voters did not disappoint Naveen and went on to vote for the conch symbol giving BJD candidate Anubhav a massive lead.
For the first time in his two-decade long career, Baijayant is likely to taste defeat as he was was trailing by more than one lakh votes when reports last came in.
The 55-year-old BJP leader was a Rajya Sabha member from the BJD camp from 2000 to 2006 and again from 2006 to 2009.
Later, he was elected to Lok Sabha from Kendrapara Parliamentary constituency twice as BJD candidate in 2009 and 2014. He was suspended from BJD in January 2018 for anti-party activities. In June last year, Baijayant resigned from BJD and Lok Sabha seat and joined BJP on March 4.
The politically important Kendrapara Parliamentary seat witnessed one of the most interesting political battles in the State. It was a do or die situation for Baijayant.
He left nothing to chance as he went on a door-to-door campaign in extreme heat conditions and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi canvassed for him. Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and other senior BJP leaders also vigorously campaigned for Baijayant. The BJD too left no stone unturned. “Naveen spent a night in Kendrapara and addressed many meetings during his road show. He played the Biju card and the voters taught Baijayant a lesson for betraying Naveen. We are jubilant as Baijayant is trailing by a huge margin,” said Dhiren Sahoo, a senior BJD leader and former chairman of Kendrapara municipality.
Meanwhile, jubilant BJD supporters burst crackers and distributed sweets in anticipation of victory of their party.
In 2014, Baijayant, as BJD candidate, had polled 6,01,574 votes. Congress candidate Dharanidhar Nayak got 3,92,466 votes while BJP candidate Bishnu Prasad Das polled 1,18,707 votes.
The Congress candidate and noted lawyer Dharanidhar, who was looking to break the jinx in the coastal district, is set to witness a huge defeat.