ROURKELA: After his re-nomination from the Rourkela Assembly constituency, BJD Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak has kicked off his campaign for a contest which promises to be fascinating on May 20.
Considered a litmus test for Nayak will lock horns - most probably - with former union Minister Dilip Ray after a decade. Nayak had faced defeat by 10,929 votes at the hands of Ray in 2014.
Nayak said people of Rourkela are his strength and with the blessings of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the city, once considered dead with no takers for land even at throwaway prices, now symbolises development besides proudly hosting the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023.
“My fight is for development of Rourkela. We are confident of making Naveen Patnaik the CM for the sixth term and a victory from Rourkela would be a gift to him.”
Nayak said the sea of BJD followers is enough for the opponent to gauge his standing. Asked about BJD’s winning prospect in the Sundargarh LS seat, which is also set to witness a tight contest, Nayak claimed, “BJD in Sundargarh is going to script history with its first win.”
He offered obeisance at the Shiva temple at Deogaon, Hanuman temple at Koelnagar and visited a church at Jhirpani on Tuesday. From Sankat Mochan temple near the railway station he set off an impressive road show to criss-cross almost entire Rourkela. BJD’s LS nominee and hockey legend Dilip Tirkey accompanied Nayak.
Meanwhile, BJP stalwart and Sundargarh LS nominee of BJP Jual Oram has said Ray in all likelihood is going to be BJP nominee from Rourkela and announcement from the BJP is expected anytime soon.
With Ray’s candidature a foregone conclusion, a neck-to-neck contest in Rourkela is on the cards. In 2014, Ray had won by securing 59,653 votes with a vote percentage rise of 24.74 per cent. Nayak got 48,724 votes and his vote percentage loss was 13.74 pc. In 2019, Nayak’s vote share rose by 7.78 pct, while BJP’s Nihar Ray got 50,417 votes with a vote share drop of 9.2 pc.
Rourkela has always been a major contributor in the victory of Jual from the LS constituency. In 2014, when Nayak was BJD’s Rourkela nominee, BJD’s then LS nominee Dilip Tirkey had got 42,227 votes from Rourkela, while Jual got 64,084 votes. In 2019, BJD’s LS candidate Sunita Biswal got 36,781, while Jual bagged 68,118 votes.
Jual has played a critical role to convince Ray to return to BJP after he quit in 2018 but remained neutral without any party.