BHUBANESWAR: With only few hours left for counting of votes in Padampur by-election, Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik’s meeting with party leaders in charge of election management has sparked curiosity in political circles.
The chief minister took block-wise review of Padampur, Paikamal and Jharbandh under the Assembly segment. The exercise on the eve of the vote counting assumed significance as the outcome of the bypoll will set the tone for the simultaneous elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha in 2024.
With Congress accepting defeat before announcement of the result, stakes are high for the ruling BJD and the BJP. A win for the regional party will demonstrate that the popularity of Naveen is very much intact while a back-to-back defeat after its debacle in Dhamnagar bypoll will change the perception that the regional satrap is no more invincible.
An initially nervous BJD, however, appears confident of winning with bigger margin than expected. It was evident when leaders emerging from the meeting said that the entire game of the BJP changed after the visit of the chief minister to Padampur where he held three election rallies.
Exuding confidence of the ruling party taking lead in all three blocks and Padampur NAC under the constituency, Dhenkanal MLA Sudhir Kumar Samal and one of the party observers told the media that the people will come to know within 24 hours how the ‘Vikash Rath’ of the chief minister has entered Padampur. He said the people have showered their love to BJD and the development works been done there by Naveen Patnaik.
Demoralised by the huge support, the BJP resorted to all kinds of dirty politics which all are aware of, Samal added.“We apprised the chief minister about the field situation before the election and the strategy adopted by the party. The chief minister was happy when all the observers told him that the party will win with massive votes,” Samal said.
BJD MLA from Rourkela Sarada Nayak said that the CM asked all the leaders to submit reports indicating specific requirements of the people of different constituencies to enable the government to take prompt measures for rapid development of those areas.On the other hand, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Sarat Pattanayak, admitted defeat of the party. He said there was no level playing field after massive distribution of cash by BJD and BJP.