RAYAGADA: The four and a half decade old Congress bastion in South Orissa collapsed like a pack of cards in just one stroke of election. Excessive greed, non-performance and complacency of the party leaders proved to be the undoing of Congress at the hustings with no immediate sign of recovery, said analysts.
Congress began its parliamentary innings in undivided Koraput in 1952 when T.Sanganna of the party won from Koraput Lok Sabha seat.
He retained the seat till 1962 when Ramachandra Ulaka contested and won the seat.
Ramachandra continued till 1971 when Giridhar Gamang took over. Giridhar consecutively won eight elections till 1999 when his wife Hema Gamang contested and won the seat.
In 2004 election, Hema contested from Gunupur Assembly seat and won while Giridhar again contested from Koraput parliamentary seat and emerged victorious.
During all these years it is reported that Giridhar never visited the villages in the constituency.
Despite the disconnect with the people, Giridhar managed to win all these years. But this time his reported insistence on giving tickets to his son, wife, assistant and two others apart from himself at the cost of others proved to be his nemesis.
He lost by a whopping margin to his long-time rival and BJD candidate Jayaram Pangi.
Similarly Rama Chandra Ulaka was a Congress MP in the undivided Koraput district between 1962 and 1967 and continued to be an MLA of Rayagada since 1972 till 2004 with a one-term break during 2000-2004 when Lal Bihari Himirika of BJD became MLA. He also allegedly lost interest in cultivating his constituency and become more self-centered of late. The Youth Congress members even threatened to resign if he was given a ticket.
However, Ulaka was appointed CLP leader just before the elections and could manage a ticket. He lost to BJD’s Lal Bihari Himirika by a margin of 15,660 votes.
In Gunupur, Hema Gamang was the outgoing MLA and had better prospects, but she left the seat in favour of son Sisir Gamang.
In the meanwhile, her uncle Bhagirathi Gamang peeved at the family politics of Hema and Giridhar contested as an Independent. Result: Sisir lost to Ramamurty Mutika of BJD who polled 41,686 votes against the former’s 22,938.
In Bissam-Cuttack Assembly seat, Ramachandra’s brother Dambarudhar Ulaka, who had contested seven times and won six times on Congress ticket, managed to retain the seat by a thin margin of 346 votes. Analysts attributed the victory to his efforts to take up development issues with the district administration time and again.
Analysts said it will be difficult for Congress to regain the lost ground.