BERHAMPUR: Ganjam’s Digapahandi is experiencing a wave of deadly violence between rival groups of BJD which many apprehend might escalate during the general elections slated to be held early next year.
Their fear is justified as at least six BJD workers of Digapahandi have been murdered in the last one year. The growing hostility is being blamed on the mad race to take over the reins of BJD in the Assembly segment which was once the stronghold of former speaker and local MLA Surjya Narayan Patro.
A BJD heavyweight, Surjya is battling ill health since the last one year. Taking advantage of his absence, many aspirants have emerged to appropriate his political legacy. Political pundits say the turmoil is due to Surjya’s failure to project his political heir.
Sources said the infighting took an ugly turn during the panchayat elections last year as several clashes were reported. In the following months, Sudhir Patra (60) and Sudarsan Suar (50) of Palajhadi village, Tofan Gouda (40) of Sahadev Tikarapada, Dabu Gouda (28) and Pradeep Sahu (23) of Nabarangpur village and Mohan Mahapatra (45) of Khamarigaon were killed. Though the continuing violence is seen as a fall out of political ambitions, the higher-ups in BJD have maintained a stoic silence.
Those in the race for BJD’s candidature in the upcoming polls include Surjya’s two sons - Biplab Pradhan and Bipin Pradhan - and a close aide of the senior leader. Besides, Kanhu Patra and Rajiv Patra are also aspiring for the BJD ticket.
Bipin, a former block chairman of Digapahandi, and Biplab may not be on the best of terms but the siblings profess themselves to be disciplined workers of BJD. They even claim that they will obey any decision of the party high command. But in reality, the two brothers are busy creating their own support base in the constituency.
As the race to take on Surjya’s mantle intensifies, political observers feel conflict may see an uptick if the BJD high command did not step in to arrest the spiralling violence. However, Ganjam district president of BJD Ramesh Chandra Chaupatnaik claimed there was no factionalism in the party.
“Our leader is Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who never tolerates indiscipline. There may be differences of opinions among party leaders but all will have to abide by the direction of Naveen babu,” he said. On the political murders in Digapahandi, Chaupatnaik said the matter has already been placed before top BJD leaders who are working on a strategy to prevent any bloodshed ahead of the polls.