BJD’s padayatra creates new fissures within party
The Jan Sampark Padayatra of the ruling BJD, a routine exercise every year, has acquired importance this time because of the upcoming elections. The padayatra not only exposed the internal bickering and factionalism at the grassroots level of the organisation, it also threw up many new faces aspiring for party tickets for the next election. A new trend that emerged during the padayatra has perplexed political observers in the state. Candidates for Assembly seats were announced at several places replacing the sitting MLAs. One such incident took place at Basta at a meeting attended by the minister of state for Tourism Aswini Kumar Patra. He announced that a new candidate will be fielded for the Basta Assembly seat this time. The minister even announced the candidate who was on the dais with him. The sitting BJD MLA from Basta was, however, absent from the meeting. The surprised MLA told mediapersons that he is doing good work in the constituency and had even met chief minister Naveen Patnaik at Naveen Nivas, which is taken to be a signal that his ticket is intact. Not only Basta, at several other places also such announcements were made. This has led partymen to wonder whether the Jan Sampark Padayatra was converted to a platform for announcing candidates.
~ Bijay Chaki
Poll season sets off seat choice for prime minister, chief minister
Come elections, the political buzz in Odisha around Prime Minister Narendra Modi contesting from Puri Lok Sabha seat gains momentum. Such a rumour was floated before the 2019 general election and many started believing it simply because of the religious sentiment attached to Puri, an important seat of Vaishnavism and the famous Shri Jagannath temple. Puri speculation is also being propped up for the PM ahead of 2024 elections. When the prime minister led a procession of Hindu priests from Tamil Nadu to install the sacred sengol in the new Parliament building, there was speculation that Modi is seriously contemplating contesting from a constituency in Tamil Nadu preferably from Rameswaram (Ramanathapuram LS seat). BJP rivals said that the saffron party spread such rumours before every election as it badly need to revive its fortune in the state. “Personally, I am not aware of PM Narendra Modi contesting from Puri Lok Sabha seat, but if he decides so, then it will be a proud moment for us and such a decision should be welcomed by the 4.5 crore Odia people,” said BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi. Meanwhile, requests have also started pouring in from different areas of the state to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to contest from there. This trend has gathered momentum after Patnaik preferred Bijepur Assembly seat as his second constituency in the last election. Not to be left behind, BJD’s Narla MLA and former minister Bhupinder Singh has offered his seat to the chief minister.
~Bijoy Pradhan