ROURKELA: The contest for seven zilla parishad (ZP) seats of Sundargarh Assembly constituency promises to be a high-stakes battle for local MLA of BJP Kusum Tete and BJD’s former legislator Yogesh Singh, both of whom had switched parties in 2019.
Just before the 2019 Assembly elections, Singh, then sitting MLA of Congress, had switched over to the BJD and the ruling party nominated him from Sundargarh seat. Tete, the grassroots leader of BJD, was denied a ticket following which she joined BJP and emerged victorious in the Assembly elections, shattering Singh’s hope for a third consecutive victory from the constituency.
Leading the ZP poll right now, both are under immense pressure to pass the litmus test and assert their positions in their respective parties. In 2017, BJP had performed exceedingly well winning four of the seven ZP seats.
While the onus to further improve BJP’s seat tally is on Tete, the MLA is facing a resurgent Singh who has launched an aggressive campaign to avenge the humiliation of 2019 polls and simultaneously prove his worth in BJD before the 2024 general elections. In 2017 rural polls, Singh had led Congress to win two ZP seats.
Singh, also the general secretary of BJD, claimed that the ruling party will sweep all the seven ZP seats. “BJD is getting overwhelming support from voters due to the popularity of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, good work of the State government and the party’s approach at the grassroots level,” he said.
Political observers said in the last polls, the presence of a BJP government bordering Chhattisgarh had influenced the ZP poll outcome in Sundargarh seat. However, with a Congress government in the neighbouring State now, that factor is missing this time and most of the ZP seats are witnessing a two-pronged fight between BJP and BJD.
Tete said relying on BJP’s organisational strength and popular schemes of the Narendra Modi-led government at the centre, the party’s performance in ZP polls would improve and BJD will receive another shock this time. The seven ZP seats will go to polls in the last two phases of the three-tier panchayat elections.