Berhampur: Organisational skills of candidates will be the key to getting nominated for the Berhampur constituency in the upcoming Assembly polls. BJD’s Bikram Panda had won the seat in 2019, after quitting Congress. He is looking to do an encore, but the BJD has yet to announce the name of its candidate from the constituency. The BJP and the Congress are also trying their best to wrest the seat from the BJD. Keeping in mind the results in 2019, this time it is again going to be a two-way contest between the BJD and the BJP. Interested candidates from various parties wanting nominations have started lobbying.
However, the fact is that the three major parties are laying special stress on the organisational skills of the aspirants. BJD has already started strengthening its organisational network and trying to end infighting within the party, if any. It is also trying to woo young and first-time voters, by highlighting the development under the Naveen Patnaik-led government. Panda has been given the responsibility of the Gopalpur Assembly constituency also. Not only is he visiting his constituency, but also working hard in Gopalpur. He is regularly holding meetings and organising road shows to highlight the development work done by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Party sources said that Panda has the backing of the workers who expect him to be nominated again, but then there is an effort by a certain group of leaders in Ganjam district who want a new face. When he joined the BJD in 2019 after quitting Congress it was this same group that had opposed Panda’s move.
The other names as BJD candidates doing the rounds are those of State Planning Board member Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik and Chairman of Odisha Cashew Development Corporation (OCDC) Subhash Moharana. Political analysts, however, think that the BJD will again field Panda. BJD spokesperson in Ganjam district, Tumbhanath Panda said that the organisation is very strong and it will ensure victory for the party candidate. He exuded confidence that the BJD will retain the seat. Meanwhile, the BJP is trying its best to wrest the seat from the BJD. It is trying to attract the voters based on developmental work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’. However, newly-appointed BJP president in the district Subhash Sahu is yet to unravel the poll strategy, planning to keep the cards close to his chest. In the last elections, the BJP had fielded Kanhu Charan Pati.
However, he lost by a margin of approximately 20,000 votes to Panda. The majority of the party workers are backing Pati for re-nomination, but it is not known what the BJP leadership in the state is thinking. All eyes will also be on Shiba Shankar Das, who quit the BJP and contested as an independent candidate in 2019. Even though he lost, he got more votes than Congress candidate Lingaraj Choudhury (5,381). Das has a good enough following to affect the fortunes of the other candidates.