CUTTACK: The high profile Mahanga Assembly constituency may witness a battle among new faces in the ensuing polls. Speculations are rife that both BJP and Congress are going to nominate new candidates from the seat, and the BJD too is likely to take the same route and change its candidate. The seat has been held by BJD since 2000 and represented by senior leaders like former Speaker Sarat Kar in 2000 and Bikram Keshari Burma in 2004. Sitting MLA and Health and Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena has been returned from the constituency twice consecutively from 2009.
In 2014, Jena had defeated independent candidate Sarada Prasad Pradhan by a margin of 27,874 votes. The senior BJD leader had polled 89,531 votes against Pradhan’s 61,657. Congress leader and former minister Sk Matlub Ali came third with 22,297 votes while BJP nominee Samir Kumar Samal polled a meagre 3,572 votes.
However, the political equations in the seat have changed drastically since 2014. In BJD, Jena is not going to have it easy as opposition to him within the party has been playing out in the open. Coupled with anti-incumbency, allegations of corruption in developmental works have queered the pitch for him. While the BJP and Congress have charged the BJD of facilitating percentage commission (PC) in developmental works, senior BJD leader and former MLA Burma too has joined the bandwagon. Burma had accused Jena of taking bribe from contractors.
With Burma and president of Cuttack BJD Scheduled Caste Cell Harekrushna Behera applying for party ticket, the fight is set to get tougher for the incumbent legislator. Stating that residents of Mahanga are desirous of a change, Burma said he is hopeful that party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik would once again give him a chance. Jena, on his part, appeared circumspect and stated the party chief will take a call on the issue.
Meanwhile, the BJP has been considerably strengthened after bringing Pradhan, who gave a tough fight to Jena in 2014, into its fold. Pradhan is hopeful of getting the party ticket in the upcoming elections. However, Choudhury Pravat Keshari Mishra, who had unsuccessfully contested in 2009, is also eying the ticket. Both Pradhan and Mishra, though, claimed that they would work for the party even if they are not given the opportunity to contest the polls.
On the other hand in Congress, after Matlub Ali expressed his desire not to contest the 2019 polls, State Private Bus Owners’ Association secretary Debendra Sahu has emerged as the new face for the party.
Sahu, once a close associate of Ali, had quit active politics in 2000 but has returned. He can now be seen actively organising Congress workers and monitoring party affairs in the constituency.