Bari: A new political equation emerging in this assembly constituency in Jajpur district has turned the political atmosphere hot.
Speculations are rife that the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) may not field incumbent Debashis Nayak in the coming Assembly elections, and could send him to the Rajya Sabha.
The party may root for a young face or a woman due to the increasing opposition to Debashis and his declining base.
Speculations are rife in three to four Assembly seats in the district where there is increasing opposition to his leadership.
Bari is one of the constituencies where Debashis once enjoyed enormous clout due to his proximity to party’s top leadership.
He soon fell from the grace and remained just an MLA. Soon opposition to his leadership grew within the party, and there were doubts on whether he will get the party ticket in 2014 elections.
However, despite stiff opposition to his leadership, party leaders reposed faith in him, and gave him a ticket for the 2014 Assembly elections from the newly created Bari Assembly seat.
He won the election for the third time with a reduced margin when his colleagues like Pramila Mallik, late Kalpataru Das and Pranab Prakash Das won hands down from neighbouring constituencies.
While the rest of BJD candidates won with a margin of over 30,000 votes in the district, Debashis scraped through with only a lead of 11,000 votes in 2014. Independent candidate Biswa Ranjan Mallick gave him a good fight in 2014. Debashis has since been striving to stay afloat.
Debashis, known as a gentleman politician, failed to check the rising opposition to his leadership. There are rumours here that as his supporters are deserting him, the BJD may not field him in the next elections and might send him to the Rajya Sabha.
The names of three persons are doing the rounds to replace Debashis, and among them one is a youth leader while the other two are women.
Among the hopefuls are Bijay Nayak, who is a secretary of the ruling party and has functioned as the Vice-President of the party’s students’ wing and as the organising secretary of its youth wing.
He is credited with bringing success to the party in 2009 general elections and the civic election in Mayurbhanj.
Another hopeful is Sulata Deo, a former chairperson of the Social Welfare Board, and party spokesperson Sulochana Das who was earlier in the Congress.
PNN