Sambalpur: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) may field women candidates in at least one or two Assembly segments while it is likely to opt for new faces in the rest of the four Assembly segments in Sambalpur district, a report said Sunday. Anticipating an early election, all political parties have launched hectic preparations here as the general election draws nearer. The district has four Assembly segments namely Sambalpur, Rengali, Kuchinda, and Redhakhole, and the lone Sambalpur Lok Sabha segment. BJD is also preparing its battle plan and trying to stitch up the loopholes that have been plaguing the party in the western district.
The ruling party has started its preparations in earnest after its organisational secretary and Jajpur MLA Pranab Prakash Das alias Bobby was appointed as observer for the party organisation in the district. Das, accompanied by Bhatli MLA Susant Singh, is touring the district and holding talks with leaders to iron out the differences among them. He has even called the frontline leaders in these four Assembly segments to Sankha Bhawan in Bhubaneswar in order to find out their problems and seek their opinions. He has even asked the party leaders to bury their differences and work unitedly for the party. The ruling party is reportedly plagued by intense factionalism here with leaders conducting parallel programmes in all the Assembly seats. Aware of this, observer Das pulled up the party leaders and asked them to mend fences and work unitedly for the party.
Meanwhile, there are several aspirants in all four Assembly constituencies. Among the aspirants, there are women leaders, youths, senior leaders, newcomers and a highly qualified youth who is yet to join the party. The district’s party leaders are tightlipped on the probable candidates. They have said that the party will field only those candidates who will be nominated by the party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. However, speculation is rife that BJD may prioritise women leaders and field them from one or two Assembly seats in the district in the 2024 elections. The party played the woman card in 2019 elections and fielded former MLA Raseswari Panigrahi from Sambalpur Assembly seat who had won in 2014 elections from the same seat. She, however, lost the elections to BJP’s Jaynarayan Mishra in 2019.
Similarly, the party also fielded an engineer Reena Tanti from Rengali seat in 2019 but she was trounced in the election. It only won from Kuchinda and Redhakhole where it had fielded Kishore Nayak and Rohit Pujari as its candidates respectively. The party lost two seats by fielding women candidates but it may again field women candidates from at least one or two seats owing to the dearth of female leaders in comparison to male leaders in the district. It is learned that some party leaders are also interested to field their female kin or wife from the women’s seat and work from behind.
Reliable sources said that the party may not field the female kin of party leaders and opt for other women candidates. The party may give its ticket to any woman who is talented and well-known, having good organisation skills if they do come from any political family. Some party workers stated that the party may once again field a woman from Rengali Assembly seat which is set to leave all those aspiring for tickets disappointed. Chatters were abuzz about whether the party will field a new candidate in Sambalpur or pit former MLA Raseswari Panigrahi.
Several youth and senior leaders are aspiring for the party ticket from this seat. In Redhakhole seat, MLA Pujari’s vote margin increased by 8,000 votes in 2019 elections than the 2014 elections. The party received a drubbing in this Assembly seat where it lost one Zilla Parishad zone and the post of NAC chairperson which established the weakness in the party organisation. Similarly, MLA Kishore Nayak’s popularity is also on the decline in Kuchinda seat which is witnessed in the form of a factional war in party meetings.