Leaders across party lines have lobbied hard to field their kin in hustings-2019
Bhubaneswar: Sons, daughters, wives and brothers of several influential and senior political leaders have jumped into the electoral fray this time in the simultaneous polls being held for Lok Sabha and the State Assembly.
Political observers feel that political parties have offered tickets to close relatives of senior leaders due to political compulsions, quell discontentment in the party and check the erosion of party base.
Just before the elections, some senior leaders took retirement from active politics to promote their sons and daughters and keep alive the dynasty politics.
Discontentment came to the fore in all three major political parties in the state– the BJD, the Congress and the BJP – forcing many leaders to quit their parties which they served for years and join other political
parties.
The ruling BJD in the state is ahead of its rivals Congress and BJP in giving party tickets to close relatives of the senior party leaders, followed by the Congress and the BJP.
The attention is on the poll results of Basudevpur, Banki and Cuttack-Choudwar Assembly constituencies.
Bishnubrata Routray, son of forest and environment minister Bijoyshree Routray, is making his political debut at Basudevpur after his father took retirement from active politics and requested the party to offer the ticket to his son in his place.
Routray is the son of former Odisha Chief Minister Nilamani Routray who had won the Basudevpur seat six times in a row since 1990 Assembly elections.
Devi Ranjan Tripathy and Souvik Biswal – sons of Banki MLA Pravat Ranjan Tripathy and Cuttack-Choudwar MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal (both BJD) respectively – are contesting from the Assembly seats held by their fathers.
Both Tripathy and Biswal were arrested for their alleged involvement in the multi-crore chit fund scam.
Since all the three are new in electoral politics, their fathers are trying hard to see their sons win the elections.
The Paradip Assembly constituency in Jagatsinghpur district is also on the scanner of people where the BJD has fielded Sambit Routray, the son of former minister Damodar Rout who was expelled from the BJD for anti-party activities and now fighting the Ersama Balikuda Assembly seat on a BJP ticket.
In Western Odisha, the BJD has offered party tickets to two sons of senior leader and former minister AU Singh Deo to contest the Bolangir Lok Sabha as well as Bolangir Assembly seats.
Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, the eldest son of A U, is one of the four lucky sitting BJD MPs who have been seeking re-election. The BJD had dropped 16 sitting MPs this time.
His younger brother Arkesh Singh Deo, a debutant in electoral politics, is contesting the Bolangir Asembly seat as BJD candidate.
People are also watching Prakash Majhi, the brother of SC/ST development minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi who is fielded by the BJD for the Jharigaon Assembly seat.
Ramesh Majhi is the BJD nominee for Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat this time as the party had denied ticket to the sitting MP Balabhadra Majhi who had quit the party and is contesting the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket.
Former BJD MP Nityananda Pradhan’s daughter Latika Pradhan, chairperson in the State Social Welfare Board, has been given a BJD ticket to contest Kabisuryanagar Assembly seat replacing the sitting party MLA V Sugnana Kumari Deo.
The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik’s son Navajyoti Patnaik, a newcomer to politics, has been given a Congress ticket to contest from the Balasore Lok Sabha seat.
The OPCC president himself is contesting from two Assembly seats – Ghasipura and Bhandaripokhari. The decision to field senior leader’s relatives has triggered widespread resentment in the party’s rank and file and many leaders including the Mahila Congress president resigned from the party accusing Patnaik of promoting dynasty politics.
Samaresh Mishra, son of veteran Congress leader and the leader of opposition in Odisha Assembly, Narasingha Mishra, has been offered a ticket to contest the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat while his father is seeking re-election from the Bolangir Assembly seat.
In an interesting development, while Anita Biswal, the eldest daughter of former Odisha Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Hemananda Biswal, is contesting the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat on a BJD ticket, her sister Amita Biswal is contesting the Sundargarh Assembly seat as a Congress candidate.
Similarly, Sagar Charan Das, son of senior Congress leader and former Union minister Bhakta Charan Das, is contesting from Bhawanipatna Assembly seat as a Congress candidate while Das himself is contesting the Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat.
BJP legislature party leader and former minister KV Singh Deo is contesting from his home Patnagarh Assembly seat and his wife Sangeeta Kumari Singdeo, has locked horns with her brother-in-law Kalikesh Singh Deo (BJD) for the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat.
The other high profile relatives who have entered the electoral battle this time are – Sisir Gomango, son of former Chief Minister Giridhari Gomango contesting from Gunupur (ST) Assembly seat on a BJP ticket.
In another case, Manju Lata Mandal, wife of BJD’s Dhamnagar (SC) MLA Mukti Kanta Mandal, is contesting the Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat as a BJD candidate and BJP general secretary Prithiraj Harichandan, son of former minister and senior BJP leader Biswa Bhushan Harichandan is contesting the Chilika Assembly seat.
Sitting BJD MP from Bhadrak Arjun Charan Sethi who wanted his son to contest, resigned from the BJD when the party denied a ticket either to him or his son Abhimanyu Sethi and joined the BJP along with his son.
Soon after joining the the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party fielded Abhimanyu as Bhadrak Lok Sabha candidate.
In another interesting development, BJD Rajya Sabha MP and actor-turned- politician Prashant Nanda’s son Rishav Nanda had joined the BJP and got the ticket to contest Begunia Assembly seat much to the embarrassment of the ruling Biju Janata Dal.