BHUBANESWAR: The Dhamnagar by-election will be a litmus test for BJP as the outcome of this battle will suggest the party’s standing ahead of the 2024 general elections. After losing all the five by-polls including the saffron stronghold Balasore Assembly seat in the last three years, BJP has a lot at stake at Dhamnagar.
It will be a moral booster for the party if it retains the seat. Another defeat will not only demoralise the cadres but will raise serious doubts about the organisational preparedness of the party to take on the BJD behemoth.
The bypoll of Dhamnagar is coming barely four months after the by-election to Brajarajnagar where the BJP faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJD. The regional outfit has been proving its supremacy time and again notwithstanding the frequent visits of Union Ministers to the State and their strident criticism of the BJD government.
While the BJP is confident of a win in Dhamnagar on sympathy wave, political observers say that the situation is similar to the Balasore bypoll where this did not work. The BJP had nominated Manas Dutta, son of former MLA Madan Mohan Dutta, to gain the sympathy of the electorate. However, BJD candidate Swarup Kumar Das won by a margin of over 13,000 votes.
On the other hand, BJD was victorious in all the bypolls when it came to sympathy ground. The ruling party retained the Tirtol seat by nominating Bijaya Shankar Das, son of former minister Bishnu Charan Das, the Pipili seat by fielding son of Pradip Maharathy and the Brajarajnagar constituency by nominating Alaska Mohanty, wife of former Speaker Kishore Mohanty.
BJD rebel candidate Rajendra Kumar Das jumping into the fray at the last minute has given much-needed relief to BJP candidate Suryabanshi Suraj. A division of BJD votes will help the BJP. A section of Bhadrak district’s BJD opposed to party MLA Byomakesh Ray have reportedly thrown their lot for Das, said a senior district leader of BJD.
Meanwhile, BJP is not leaving anything to chance as BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal who was recently given the charge of Odisha had day-long meetings with party workers of the Bhadrak district on Saturday and Sunday to finalise the electoral strategy.