BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on Thursday summoned party leaders from Kendrapara district including Lok Sabha candidate Anshuman Mohanty following reports of discontentment among latter’s supporters after his name was announced as the nominee for the constituency.
The chief minister had to step in personally as the situation had deteriorated to such extent that supporters of Mohanty who were scheduled to join BJD on Wednesday at Kendrapara went back in protest after his candidature announcement.
It was speculated that Mohanty was not keen to contest the Lok Sabha election against BJP heavyweight and national vice-president Baijayant Panda from the seat. He was eyeing the Rajnagar Assembly segment in the district, which had been his father late Nalinikanta Mohanty’s traditional bastion. Besides, there was also opposition from a section of Kendrapara district unit of the party when Mohanty joined the regional outfit on February 22.
Sources said the chief minister is reported to have asked Mohanty to contest the Lok Sabha polls and win. “My best wishes for you. Contest from the Lok Sabha seat and emerge victorious,” the chief minister told him. Mohanty was accompanied to Naveen Niwas by Industries Minister Pratap Deb, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Patkura Assembly seat candidate Arvind Mohapatra.
However, BJD’s candidate and sitting MLA from Rajnagar, Dhruba Charan Sahu, an arch rival of Mohanty in Kendrapara was absent exposing serious factionalism in the district unit. The chief minister asked the leaders from the district to work unitedly during the elections and ensure the party emerges victorious from the Kendrapara seat with a bigger margin than the 2019 polls.
After the meeting at Naveen Niwas, Mohanty told The New Indian Express that reports that he was reluctant to contest the Lok Sabha election was a rumour spread by his detractors. Thanking the chief minister for nominating him from the prestigious seat, Mohanty said he is committed to take forward the legacy of former chief minister Biju Patnaik and uphold the vision of party president. “Earlier, I used to serve the people of Pattamundai and Rajnagar. Now with the blessings of the chief minister, I have been given the opportunity to serve the entire Lok Sabha constituency,” he said.
Mohanty had won from Rajnagar seat on a Congress ticket but lost to Dhruba Sahu in the 2019 elections. He was the Kendrapara district Congress president since 2020 but resigned from the party on February 14 and joined the BJD two days later.
His father Nalini Kanta Mohanty, represented Rajnagar seven times. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJD’s Anubhav Mohanty had defeated Baijayant Panda of BJP by over 1.81 lakh votes.