JEYPORE: The BJD’s decision to nominate Koraput special development council (SDC) chairman Chandra Sekhar Majhi for Kotpad constituency by denying ticket to sitting MLA Padmini Dian has generated mixed reaction from the Assembly segment.
Interestingly, it is Chandra’s long association with Congress which may work against him, political observers feel.
Chandra’s elder brother Basudev Majhi was a veteran Congress leader of Kotpad and was elected from the Assembly constituency in 1974, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1995, 2000, 2004 and 2009 elections.
Interestingly, the younger sibling too had a major role in ensuring his brother’s triumph during most of the polls. Owing to continuous victory of Congress in the region, the constituency came to be known for being Congress solid vote bank in Koraput.
Besides, Chandra himself was elected to the State Assembly on a Congress ticket in 2014. However, he lost the seat to BJD candidate Padmini Dian by a narrow margin in 2019. While Dian secured 62,248 votes, Chandra polled 59,617 votes. In 2021, he left Congress and joined BJD and was subsequently selected as the chairman of the Koraput SDC.
Political experts opine since Kotpad is a Congress belt, Chandra might find it difficult to win the seat on a BJD ticket as his name has long been associated with the former. Though he has switched to the ruling party but Chandra for years always fought the BJD which may work against him when he goes to the constituents for campaigning, observers say.
However, BJD leaders of the area expressed hope that the party would win big in the area during the polls. “Majhi has joined BJD and taken the development works of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik forward. I am sure it will help him in winning the polls,” said Surya Narayan Rath, BJD observer of Kotpad Assembly constituency.