Berhampur: Rift between two Left parties is wide open as the Communist Party of IndiaMarxist (CPM) is taking on the CPI in a zilla parishad (ZP) zone under Chhatrapur Assembly segment in Ganjam district.
According to sources, Gobardhan Pahan of CPM is contesting from ZP zone-15 while Raghunath Behera of CPI is also in the fray from the same zone.
The fight between the two Left parties is indicative of the fact that there is little coordination an element of hostility among them.
Two of the ZP zones – 14 and 15 – fall under Chhatrapur Assembly segment, which was once a Left stronghold.
Moreover, Sanatan Behera from BJD, Sumant Das from BJP, Dhanurdhar Das from Congress and Lakshmipriya Behera from BSP are also contesting from zone-15.
CPM state secretary Ali Kishore Patnaik, district secretary Yudhisthir Behera and others are spearheading the campaign for the CPM candidate while former legislator N Narayan Reddy, district secretary Prakash Patra and state president of CPI youth wing Pradip Sethy are leading the campaign for CPI candidate.
On the other hand, BJD MLA Subhash Chandra Behera, former deputy speaker Rama Chandra Panda and ex-MLA Adikanda Sethy have also hit the campaign trail.
Likewise, BJP’s MLA candidate in the last Assembly elections Prasant Kar and others are campaigning for the saffron party’s candidate.
Similarly, district Congress president and Sanakhemundi MLA Ramesh Chandra Jena and other party leaders are monitoring the campaigning of the Congress candidate.
CPM has fielded Gayatri Goud as its candidate from zone-14 as the party has many pocket votes in this region. Similarly, Sasmita Swain from BJD, Prabhasini Nayak from BJP and Sasmita Moharana from Congress are also in the fray from the zone.
All the four women candidates have intensified their campaigning. The zone was secured by CPM in the last panchayat elections. Sources said Chhatrapur Assembly segment was earlier a communist bastion.
Voters had chosen CPI candidates as their MLA for eight times in 16 elections held during the period from 1951-52 to 2019. However, BJD had a one-sided victory in 2017 panchayat elections when it clinched 64 out of 69 zones.
The BJP won in two zones of Gopalpur Assembly segment and once each in Sanakhemundi and Chhatrapur Assembly segments. The Congress candidate won only from a single zone under Digapahandi Assembly segment.
PNN