BHUBANESWAR: Even as the battle lines for the ensuing elections have been drawn, managing internal dissidence has become a big challenge for the ruling BJD in two of the three Assembly constituencies in the state capital.
Though the three Assembly seats - Bhubaneswar-Ekamra, Bhubaneswar-Central and Bhubaneswar-North - have been turned into a BJD fortress for the last one-and-half decades, political observers opine it would not be a cakewalk for the ruling party this time owing to the growing dissidence over candidate selection in at least Bhubaneswar-Ekamra and Bhubaneswar-Central.
The BJD is facing rebellion in Bhubaneswar-Ekamra Assembly constituency from four-time corporator Biranchi Narayan Mahasupakar. Mahasupakar, who was competing with minister Ashok Chandra Panda to get a party ticket from the ruling party to contest from the seat, has announced to fight the polls as an Independent.
Supporters of Mahasupakar, who is representing ward no 59, said he enjoys the backing of a significant chunk of Lingaraj temple sevayat community. Besides, he has also intensified campaigning in five panchayats of the segment - Basuaghai, Itipur, Tikarapada, Dhauli and Sisupalgarh - to reach out to voters. While Panda claims that the impact of Independents in the constituency will be negligible, observers predict Mahasupakar’s aggressive campaign could split BJD’s vote share in the constituency which may even benefit the BJP.
Meanwhile in Bhubaneswar-Central too, internal dissent has emerged as a major challenge after the ruling party fielded MLA Ananta Narayan Jena. The decision of the party leadership has disappointed corporator Amaresh Jena who was keen to contest from the seat. Both Ananta Narayan and Amaresh had war of words in their ticket race and both had reached out to party leadership at Naveen Niwas and displayed show of strength.
However, ever since Ananta Narayan’s candidature was confirmed, Amaresh has not clarified his next move. His silence on whether he would support Ananta’s candidature, has only confirmed suspicion of a mounting rift between the two local leaders. This indicates that any revolt by the corporator, who is a popular face in a number of localities including Chintamaniswar, BJB Nagar and Badagada area of the city, could hamper party’s vote share in the constituency.
While party’s Bhubaneswar district president Susant Kumar Rout couldn’t be reached for his comments, MLA and BJD’s Bhubaneswar-Central candidate Ananta refuted the issue of rebellion. “We are one family and will continue to get the blessings of the constituents in all three Assembly seats,” he said.