ANGUL: The ruling BJD may not have a smooth sailing in Athamallik Assembly seat after its sitting MLA Ramesh Sai jumped ship to BJP earlier this month.
In 2019 elections, Ramesh had contested from Athamallik on a BJD ticket and defeated his nearest BJP rival Bhagirathi Pradhan by a margin of 47,000 votes. This time, Ramesh was denied a ticket and Nalinikanta Pradhan has been made the BJD candidate from the seat.
Political observers said Ramesh enjoys a wide support base in Athamallik and is trying hard to stop the BJD candidate from winning the seat. Making matters worse, another influential leader of BJD Arjun Sahoo has also quit the ruling party and is working to spoil Nalinikanta’s chances in the polls.
Similarly, BJP candidate in the 2019 polls Bhagirathi has also quit the saffron party after he was denied a ticket this time. He, however, is yet to join any party. This time, BJP has fielded Sanjeeb Sahoo from Athamallik seat.
Sources said both BJD and BJP are facing threat from dissidents and the Congress votes will determine the outcome of the upcoming polls. Athamallik is likely to witness a direct fight between BJD candidate Nalinikanta and BJP’s Sanjeeb. Through Congress has fielded Bijayananda Chaulia as its nominee, he is expected to come a distant third like in the 2019 polls.
Though Athamallik belongs to Angul district, it is one of the Assembly segments under Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat. The segment consists of the whole of Athamallik block and parts of Angul and Kishore Nagar. BJD has been winning the seat in every election since 2000.
Meanwhile, candidates of BJD, BJP and Congress have intensified campaigning in Athamallik. As part of their poll campaign, BJP’s Sambalpur LS nominee Dharmendra Pradhan and his BJD counterpart Pranab Prakash Das recently visited the Assembly segment.