BHUBANESWAR: Even as political atmosphere in Nabarangpur district’s Umerkote is hotting up ahead of the byelection on November 30, Maoist fear looms large in the constituency. Sitting MLA Jagabandhu Majhi was killed in broad daylight by suspected Maoists.
During the 2009 elections, Nabarangpur district, including Umerkote Assembly segment, was a Maoist-free zone. But after that Maoists made inroads into the constituency. Though leaders of all the three major political parties maintain that the presence of the Left wing extremists (LWEs) has increased in the district, they are yet to make any public statement vis-a-vis polls.
The constituency, spread over Raighar and Umerkote blocks and Umerkote NAC, has over 1.7 lakh voters. About eight or nine panchayats of Raighar block bordering Chhattisgarh are the worst Naxal-affected areas in the State. Sources in the Congress maintained that it will not be possible to campaign in Kudai and Haldia panchayats because of Maoist threat. In the other affected areas also campaigning will have to end by evening, said leaders in-charge of campaign.
Meanwhile, the Congress has decided to kickstart its campaign formally from November 15 with a booth-level training camp to be attended by OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik and other senior members. Nabarangpur MP Pradip Majhi said leaders will fan out to villages after the meeting.
Majhi claimed that the position of the Congress candidate Jeetendra Gond is improving. He claimed that there is no factionalism in the district unit and all leaders have agreed to campaign for the party candidate. Former minister Parama Pujhari will also be approached for campaigning, he said.
Sources in the BJD claimed that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will campaign for the party candidate Subash Gond. His campaign will unite different factions in the district unit, said BJD sources.