JEYPORE: As speculation over the much-talked about alliance between BJP and BJD comes to an end, the saffron party finds itself grappling with a dearth of prominent faces for the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency, a key seat of the region.
While three hopefuls are vying for the BJP ticket, their relative obscurity among voters and heavy reliance on party’s name and credibility is a major challenge.
Sources reveal Siba Sankar Ulaka, Kaliram Majhi, and Bhagaban Muduli are party contenders for the Koraput LS seat in the forthcoming election. However, their names fail to resonate with the electorate.
Ulaka had unsuccessfully contested from Koraput LS seat in 2014, garnering a modest 89,788 votes. A mechanical engineer by qualification, he tasted defeat in 2019 when he fought on a BJP ticket from Bissamcuttack Assembly segment, coming third in the list.
Majhi, the current national vice-president of the ST BJP Morcha, hails from Rayagada district and has only recently begun making public appearances at party meetings, with limited visibility among voters. Similarly, Bhagaban Muduli, a former president of District Sarpanch Association from Laxmipur, struggles to establish direct connection with the electorate.
The party leaders in the area are concerned over lack of grassroots connect of the three contenders across seven constituencies, Rayagada, Bissamcuttack, Gunupur, Koraput, Laxmipur, Pottangi, and Jeypore.
Political observer Kirti Chandra Sahu said, “All the ticket aspirants of BJP will have to fight the election in the name of PM Narendra Modi and the party symbol to garner public support.” However, district general secretary of BJP Chandra Sekhar Rath expressed optimism with the way the party candidates are preparing for the polls. PM Modi’s achievements and the party’s image are enough to resonate with voters and candidates will not have a difficult task in hand, he added.