KENDRAPARA: When BJP’s national vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda was named the party candidate for the Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, the question on everyone’s mind was if he could make it this time.
Panda had won twice from the seat in 2009 and 2014 as a BJD candidate. But electoral success seems to have deserted him after he joined the saffron party. Once a close confidant of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Panda switched over to the BJP in 2019 after a bitter fallout with the BJD chief. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate but was trounced by Odia film star Anubhav Mohanty fielded by the BJD.
This time, Panda is locked in a triangular contest with Anshuman Mohanty of the BJD, the son of Nalini Kanta Mohanty, a former minister and close aide of Biju Patnaik, and Siddharth Swarup Das of the Congress, a new face with no experience of fighting election at this level.
As one traverses through Kendrapara, the election fervour seems to be conspicuous by its absence. There is no perceptible tilt, but scratch the surface and there is a simmer for change, particularly in the rural parts.
“No doubt, the BJD and its leaders have done good work in the constituency. But we should also examine what other political parties are offering. Baijayant Panda is a known leader nationally,” said Biraja Das, a paan shop owner at Chhapali square under Mahakalapada Assembly segment.
The sentiment was echoed by another voter. “The time has come for a change. The same party has been ruling for too long. Development is too slow,” said Sadasiv Patra of Pospura.
Basic issues such as roads, water, hospitals, schools, and unemployment are on top of voters’ mind.
However, voting behaviour is more inclined to emotion and attachment, where problem-solving becomes secondary. As a youth in Kendrapara town put it — the fight is between the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Biju legacy. The legacy has held strong since former CM and Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik made Kendrapara his seat and won it thrice in 1977, 1980 and 1984. The baton was passed on to the BJD, which has held it since 1998 after it came into being.
Can Panda breach the BJD bastion and help the BJP gain a foothold in coastal Odisha?
Rural voters in Kendrapara LS constituency are vocal about their problems that have remained unresolved for years. Tejeswar Parida, the BJP candidate of Patkura Assembly seat, flags water scarcity as one of them.
“You see the condition of roads in villages… there are no schools or hospitals. Even in existing hospitals and schools, there are no doctors or teachers,” he said. Migration of youth, particularly to Surat in Gujarat, for jobs in textiles mills, is another concern being raised. Panda may or may not win the election, but the popularity of the PM Modi among the voters can be sensed everywhere as one moves through the constituency.
For college student Sanjay Sahu, Modi is the best politician in the country and most suited for the job while 70-year-old Hemant observed that both Modi and Naveen are equally popular. The Biju legacy is still strong all across. “Anshuman Mohanty, the BJD candidate is the son of Nalini Kanta Mohanty, who worked with Biju. Nalini babu had done a lot for the constituency. He cannot be ignored,” said Biraja Sahu of Garadpur village. Mohanty, a former Congress MLA who crossed over to the BJD just before the election, said people have always voted for candidates fielded by CM Naveen Patnaik. “The chief minister has fielded me. My father had also worked with Biju babu and the chief minister. I think people will bless me and make me victorious,” he stated.
However, his Congress baggage and parachuting as a candidate has not gone down well with the local BJD cadre. The local resistance against him despite the BJD’s show of unity may pose a tough challenge for him. Panda, on the other hand, Has gained in stature within the BJP by becoming its national vicepresident, which has not gone unnoticed among the electorate here. He, however, cites his continuous connect with the people of the constituency and efforts to address their problems and issues.
He said he has taken steps to solve water crisis by installing water tanks in all blocks, taken steps to set up the mini-stadium and Kendriya Vidyalaya. One of his major achievements is the completion of the Haridaspur-Paradip railway line, which he says has helped hundreds of migrant workers.