ROURKELA: The Biju Janata Dal has never won the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat. Since formation, it has won only from Rourkela, RN Pali and Rajgangpur Assembly segments. Can it change this record this time around?
Riding on the sweeping victory in the zilla parishad (ZP) council, Rajgangpur and Birmitrapur municipalities and partial win in Sundargarh municipality, the BJD is asserting supremacy in the LS and all seven Assembly constituencies (ACs) to demoralise opponents. But the ruling party has to urgently overcome infighting and sabotage with less than a fortnight to go for polling on May 20.
BJD insiders have no qualm privately admitting that infighting is eroding the party’s winning prospects although all looks fine from the surface. Poll observers note that BJD nominee Rohit Joseph Tirkey is facing the worst of infighting in the Birmitrapur AC where it got a lifeline with rejection of nomination of JMM candidate. It received a similar stimulus in Talsara AC with abrupt replacement of a strong Congress candidate with a weaker one.
The twin developments in Birmirapur and Talsara prevented split of the decisive Christian votes to favour the BJD. Yet, Rohit and Talsara BJD candidate Binay Toppo will have to sweat to defeat sitting MLA of Birmitrapur Shankar Oram and incumbent Talsara legislator BS Bhoi - both from BJP.
In Talsara, BJD leader Santoh Amat recently quit to return to the BJP fold, while three-time Congress MLA Dr Prafulla Majhi after joining the BJD has stayed away from Talsara.
As of now, BJD’s Jogesh Singh clearly has advantage over sitting MLA of BJP Kusum Tete in the two-pronged contest in Sundargarh AC where the latter is facing anti-incumbency.
In Rajgangpur AC, Congress MLA Dr CS Razzen Ekka is trying to defend his fort against the BJP and BJD. The BJD’s Anil Barwa, son of senior BJD leader and former minister Mangla Kisan, is facing resistance from within over dynastic politics. In RN Pali AC, the BJD has nominated sitting MLA Subrat Tarai’s wife Archana Rekha Behera but an influential section of the BJD is yet to accept her candidature. To contain damage, the BJD has made Prashant Sethi its state secretary and shifted him with election responsibility to Kantabhanji. Yet it remains to be seen if Archana is able to defend her husband’s seat from the onslaught of an assertive BJP. Interestingly, BJD Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak after overcoming infighting is firmly placed against BJP heavyweight Dilip Ray. Whoever wins the two-pronged fight, the difference is likely to be marginal.
Similar is the story in Bonai where CPM’s incumbent MLA Laxman Munda has an edge, while BJD nominee. Ex-MLA Bhimsen Chaudhary too looks overconfident but faces the prospect of sabotage from within due to mineral transport business interests of some local BJD leaders tied to CPM-dominated sidings or mines.
Nayak said the BJD is fighting the election on the development and welfare programmes and popularity of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and exuded confidence that the party will ace its performance in the district.
