BHUBANESWAR : All’s not well with the ruling BJD in Puri district where it is faced with acute factionalism ahead of elections. Two senior leaders-former minister Sanjay Dasburma and MLA Uma Samantray are staking claim to contest from Satyabadi Assembly constituency.
Both the leaders were summoned to ‘Sankha Bhawan’, the BJD headquarters, to resolve the dispute in the presence of general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das. Later, Dasburma and Samantray were called to Naveen Niwas as the crisis persisted. Sources said the picture will be clear in a day or two.
Senior BJD leaders, however, maintained the issue should be viewed from a different angle. “Why is Dasburma, who has a strong base in Brahmagiri, eager to contest from Satyabadi. This may be because of speculation of a BJD and BJP alliance doing the rounds and if it happens the Brahmagiri seat may go to BJP which has a sitting MLA from the constituency,” a leader said.
Besides, Dasburma is more close to powers that be in the BJD. He was being considered as the candidate from the Puri Lok Sabha seat as the sitting MP Pinaki Mishra is reportedly unwilling to contest again. However, Dasburma is not interested to contest from Puri Lok Sabha seat and wants to contest the Assembly from a safe seat in the district.
The issue came to fore from a widely circulated video in which Dasburma is seen telling party workers he will contest from Satyabadi in the coming elections. “You can be 100 per cent sure that I will contest from Satyabadi in the coming elections,” he said.
He was interacting with BJD workers from Satyabadi and Kanas region of the district. Workers were seen requesting the former minister to contest from Satyabadi and assured him of victory.
“Even BJP and Congress will support you if you contest from Satyabadi,” they told the former minister.
Dasburma had won from Brahmagiri Assembly constituency consecutively in 2009 and 2014. However, he had lost to Lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra of BJP in 2019.
However, sitting BJD MLA from Satyabadi Uma Samantray strongly reacted to Dasburma’s claim. “It does not matter if anybody claims anything. Has the chief minister or 5T chairman announced anything,” Samantray asked, stating he was the one who brought BJD to Satyabadi. Samantray said he is confident of contesting from Satyabadi and retaining the seat.