Korei: The BJD candidate in Korei Assembly segment under Jajpur Lok Sabha seat finds himself on a sticky wicket as campaigning came to an end for the fourth phase of elections Saturday.
The internal squabbling in the party is increasing with hardly a day left for elections. The party is finding it hard to safeguard its position in the Assembly seat which was once its citadel.
Many BJD workers are deserting the party and joining other parties and the BJD candidate is facing stiff opposition from voters. The BJD replaced incumbent MLA Akash Das Nayak and fielded Ashok Bal as its candidate from the seat.
The BJP nominee is Biswajit Nayak. The Congress has fielded Bandita Parida, a former Chairperson of Vyasanagar Municipality.
The trouble for the BJD is increasing by the day with no sign of respite. The BJD camp was initially elated after some leaders from the BJP and the Congress joined the party. However, the happiness was short lived after many workers and leaders started deserting the party.
Recently, Ashok Kumar Barik, a member of Kantor panchayat in Korei Panchayat Samiti, who is a staunch supporter of incumbent MLA Akash Das Nayak, deserted the BJD and joined the Congress. He has announced his support for Congress candidate Bandita Parida.
Rashimirekha Gahan, sarpanch of Sadakpur panchayat, who won with Congress support, joined the BJD at Naveen Niwas April 13.
However, local BJD leaders were not happy with Gahan joining the party. The dissidence which the BJD was facing after Gahan joined the party came out in the open when around 200 BJD workers joined the Congress Wednesday.
Moreover, troubles for the party are far from over as BJD nominee Ashok Bal had to face stiff opposition from the public Wednesday evening.
He had been to Chandma village in Vyasanagar municipality limits when villagers did not allow him to step into their village and also abused him in unparliamentarily language.
The Korei Assembly seat was a BJD bastion, but it seems it is no more a safe bet for the party if recent developments are any indication.
The nine panchayats of Rasulpur block, where the BJD candidate used to get 10,000 to 12,000 votes, are also slipping out of the party’s hand.
The BJP and Congress candidates are learnt to have made inroads in these nine panchayats by intensifying their campaigning. BJP candidate Biswajit is leaving no stone unturned to win while his BJD counterpart is facing stiff opposition.
Despite illness, Biswajit participated in a motorcycle rally in these nine panchayats Thursday. Observers claimed that around 2,000 bikers participated in this rally and many of them were BJD workers, the staunch supporters of the incumbent MLA Akash Das Nayak.
Former BJP MLA Sanchita Mohanty has also thrown her weight behind Biswajit and is busy preparing strategies to ensure his victory.
Political analysts said that this is surely going to make a dent in the BJD vote bank. The BJD camp in Korei is divided into two to three groups which have now become a headache for its candidate.
This has forced the BJD candidate to concentrate more on placating dissidents than on campaigning while the BJP and Congress are moving door-to-door seeking votes.
Political analysts also claimed that this time the focus of the voters is on the personality of candidates than on their parties. The Congress is elated after several leaders of the BJD and BJP joined it.
Congress candidate Bandita Parida is slowly gaining acceptance among the voters with her pleasing personality. Senior Congress leaders like AICC general secretary Rama Chandra Khuntia, Bidyadhar Mohanty, Rasananda Mohanty and Hrudananda Samal are actively campaigning for Bandita. However, it is hard to predict who will win here ultimately.
PNN