ROURKELA: Congress’ loss appears to be BJP’s gain in Sundargarh district after the grand old party in a suicidal decision dumped former India hockey captain Prabod Tirkey and the BJP lost no time to make him its minority face.
Declared as Congress candidate from Talsara Assembly constituency (AC), Prabod had started campaign when he was unceremoniously replaced with a lesser-known new entrant Debendra Bhitiria, a man from the dominant Bhuiyan tribal community. It is believed the Congress did so with an eye to getting Bhuiyan votes.
The rocky start to the new career of the political greenhorn has come as a boon for the BJP as Prabod (39), a tribal Christian, has now turned its face helping the saffron party to cosy up with minority voters.
Prabod campaigning for the BJP assumes much significance in the backdrop of the Sundargarh Lok Sabha (LS) constituency conservatively accounts for between 2.85 lakh to 3.15 lakh Christian voters out of the total 15.67 lakh registered voters.
Moreover, Sundargarh district’s affinity for hockey, especially among the tribal Christians, is key to Prabod helping the BJP neutralise the BJD’s Dilip Tirkey effect. In fact, BJD had fielded the hockey legend and Hockey India president Dilip as its Sundargarh LS candidate for its huge pull among the Christian community.
With end of nomination filing, the BJP plans to use Prabodh to woo Christian voters and hockey lovers although Prabod is no match for the immense popularity of Dilip. “Whatever minority votes BJP draws would be a bonus,” a senior BJP leader said.
Prabod said he is personally meeting and convincing people of his community that BJP is the right choice for development and economic growth of the country, state and local areas.
He has been attending small group meetings with BJP heavyweight candidate and sitting MP Jual Oram and was seen on the forefront during the nomination filing processions of Jual and all seven Assembly candidates including Rourkela candidate Dilip Ray and three sitting MLAs.
Prabod said he is getting positive response but elderly people of his community continue to be rigid about BJP, adding he is convinced they will slowly come to like BJP’s tagline of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Bikash, Sabka Biswas and Sabka Prayas.’
Sundargarh organisational district president of BJP and Talsara candidate Bhawani Shankar Bhoi said the former hockey star is a popular name in Sundargarh and asset for the BJP. During Congress’ campaign in Talsara, Prabod was pulling impressive crowd, he said, adding even committed voters are angry with the Congress for insulting the national pride.