Barsha Singh Bariha, the daughter of former MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha, is trying her best to soak up the spotlight by playing to the gallery. A debutant in politics notwithstanding, the 29-year-old has successfully struck an emotional chord with the people of the Padampur Assembly constituency, especially the women.
She has been able to evoke the sympathy factor wherever she has been going. Unnerved by the sympathy wave, the BJP has engaged its workers to divert the attention of the voters by posing some embarrassing questions to Barsha about her stay after the by-election.
The BJP supporters have been provoking her to tell the constituents of Padampur if she will stay here (Padampur) or with her in-laws in Satyabadi, the native place of her father-in-law and BJP leader Rama Ranjan Baliarsingh in the event she wins the seat. If she wins, the voters will have the benefit of a darshan of Lord Jagannath in Puri every time they want to meet their MLA in Satyabadi, which is the joke going around in Padampur.