Rourkela: Despite the saffron wave sweeping Odisha, BJP’s Rourkela MLA candidate Dilip Ray lost to BJD’s Sarada Prasad Nayak. It was an unexpected result keeping in mind that Ray indeed was a heavyweight candidate and had emerged victorious in many elections before this one. Political analysts, however, have their own opinions on the result. Some said that Ray was ‘overconfident’ while others pointed out that his ‘camp had taken Sarada lightly’ and did not campaign the way it should have.
Many of them thought that Sarada won’t be a match for Ray due to the latter’s popularity and money power. Little did they realise that Ray’s popularity had waned in the past few years in this constituency. Sources close to Ray also pointed out that this time there were too many people who were giving orders and opinions in the Ray camp. They pointed out that this led to a ‘disjointed’ campaign and in the end Ray suffered because of it. It was a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, they added.
However, an insider to the Ray camp stated that strife within the local unit of the BJP here led to Ray’s defeat. “Once Ray’s name was announced as a candidate, many of them started working for the BJD,” the insider said on condition of anonymity. “In fact many of them even voted for the BJD,” he added. Orissa POST had reported this issue May 10. Another Ray camp insider said that Nihar Ray’s rebellion was a key factor in Ray’s loss. Nihar had filed his nomination after BJP announced Ray as its candidate. Even though he did not win, the votes Nihar got were enough to upset Ray’s applecart, the person opined.
However, above all, it was the mistake of taking Sarada lightly which played a pivotal role in Ray’s defeat, many including the BJP cadres opined. “Many of them (Ray camp) thought that they would end Sarada’s political career. They failed to assess the pulse of the people and so lost,” said a political analyst. “There were large chunks of voters, especially in Bondamunda locality who did not like Ray as a candidate and hence did not vote for him,” he added. In the end Nayak emerged victorious with 64,660 votes as against Ray’s 61,108. Congress candidate Birendra Nath Pattnaik may have got only 8,751 votes, but then it was enough to spoil Ray’s party. Also the decision of the Marwari community here to desert Ray was another reason for his downfall, others opined.