Paradip: After the expulsion of Damodar Rout from the BJD, voters are eagerly waiting to know who would be the party’s candidate from Paradip assembly constituency.
Cuttack Barabati MLA Debashis Samantaray is one of the candidates being considered for the seat, reports said. However, some observers said Debashis might not leave his own constituency. If Debashis is reluctant to contest from Paradip seat, Lok Sabha MP Kulamani Samal could be the next choice for the BJD, it was learnt.
Samal, a doctor in profession, hailing from Kujang has a good relationship with Rout.
Similarly, there are reports of Santosh Pattanayak, a workers’ association leader is being considered. He has recently been in the news for his association with the BJD’s several programmes including Jeevan Bindu and Mahanadi Banchao Abhiyan.
On the other hand, Sambit Rout, son of Damodar Rout, is also in the race. He said he has made up his mind to contest the election. If Sambit gets a BJD ticket, the 2019 election might even witness a contest between the father and the son. “I have made up my mind to contest the 2019 election,” Sambit said.
Notably, Arindham Sarkhel (Bapi) had given a good challenge to Rout in the 2014 election, securing 47,000 votes. Although the performance of BJP was not convincing during the 2014 election, the party has since strengthened its presence in the constituency.
In the 2015 municipality election, the saffron party for the first time captured one seat, securing second highest number of votes. Besides, the party had also won two Zilla Parishad zones in panchayat election.
Hence, the strategy of the BJD could be to select a local leader to take on the BJP, Rout and Congress here. Sources said BJD could choose municipality chairman Basant Biswal as its candidate.
However, Biswal, who has a good support in Paradip, does not have a strong vote base in Kujang. Amid reports of all these names cropping up, it would be interesting to see who takes over Rout, locals said.
PNN