BHUBANESWAR: After witnessing fight between royal families in three consecutive elections, the Balangir Lok Sabha constituency is set for a change with one royal, a turncoat and an actor pitted against each other this time.
Sitting MP Sangeeta Singh Deo is going to face a three-time MLA and former minister Surendra Singh Bhoi of the BJD and actor-turned-politician Manoj Mishra of Congress.
Sangeeta, the Maharani of Balangir royal family and wife of former minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo, was elected to the parliament thrice consecutively from 1998 till 2004 when the saffron party fought elections in alliance with the BJD. After the alliance broke before 2009 elections, she lost the seat to her brother-in-law Kalikesh Singh Deo of BJD twice. She, however, retained the seat by defeating Kalikesh in a three-cornered contest in 2019.
Prior to her election from the seat in 1998, the incumbent president of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee Sarat Pattanayak was elected twice in 1991 and 1996. He, however, lost four elections from 1998 onwards, leaving the seat to senior Congress leader Narasingha Mishra in 2009 and his son Samarendra Mishra in 2019.
After nominating Kalikesh from Balangir Assembly seat, the BJD has reposed faith on former Congress leader from Saintala Surendra Singh Bhoi much to the surprise of BJD leaders in the district. Bhoi was elected to the Assembly on Congress ticket in 1995 and 2000 and was made a minister in 1999. He got elected from Titilagarh Assembly seat in 2009.
In a surprise move, the Congress has nominated actor Manoj Mishra for the Lok Sabha seat after Samarendra Mishra expressed his desire to contest from Balangir Assembly seat which is currently represented by his father. The senior Mishra had made his intention clear from the beginning that he is no more interested to contest elections due to his advanced age.
Manoj became the natural choice of the Congress as he has the blessings of party veteran Narasingha Mishra. New to politics, the actor created a buzz in political circles earlier this year when he revolted against the Utkal Cine Chamber of Commerce (UCCC) and fellow actors and producers from coastal region following a two-year ban on him. He not only received unexpected support from western Odisha leaders cutting across party lines but from all apex organisations of Koshala region who called for a western Odisha bandh protesting the ban on the actor.
The three-cornered contest has made the Lok Sabha seat, which is set to go to polls on May 20, quite an interesting battle.