Bhubaneswar: With the announcement of date for Bijepur by-poll, speculation is now rife about the candidates the three major political parties in state – BJD, BJP and Congress – are going to pick for the big fight.
Bijepur MLA seat is lying vacant after resignation of Naveen Patnaik, who won the seat in this year’s election in addition to his own Hinjili seat.
The ruling BJD is ahead as regards the preparedness for the poll in comparison with Opposition BJP and Congress. The BJD has already formed a four-member election coordination team for Bijepur by-election. Senior BJD leaders Niranjan Pujari, Susanta Singh, Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo and Sanjay Das Burma have been assigned the task by the BJD.
Following the appointment of Subash Chouhan as the chairman of Western Odisha Development Council (WODC), it is speculated that former MLA Rita Sahu will be BJD’s candidate for the seat.
“Party supremo Naveen Patnaik will certainly announce the candidate on the basis of winability,” BJD leader and Rural Development Minister Susanta Singh said.
The BJD has won the seat in the last two elections securing over one lakh votes. This time too, the party will get more than one lakh votes, he claimed.
Asked about possible candidate, Singh said, “Since she (Rita Sahu) had been elected once, she is certainly a choice.”
Sahu had won the seat in 2018 by-poll and has already started campaigning and participating in other works. She is sure that the party will give her the ticket and she will win the election to work for the people of her constituency, Singh added.
The BJP, meanwhile, said that it is fully prepared for the by-election and it will name the candidate soon.
“We have begun preparations for Bijepur much earlier and are fully prepared to fight the poll with the organisational strength. The party’s Parliamentary Board will soon decide on the candidate,” said state BJP president Basanta Panda.
Grapevines have it that the saffron party may pick former MLA Pradip Purohit (who lost the 2019 election from Padampur) or the candidate for 2019 election, Sanat Kumar Gartia, for Bijepur battle. Both are hopefuls for the party ticket.
The Congress also said it has started preparations for the by-election. About a month and a fortnight back we had formed a panel under the leadership of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Narasingha Mishra which will submit report by September 24, said state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik.
Stating Congress will certainly fight elections with full capacity, Niranjan said the candidate will be announced by September 25.
The Congress party may pick Ripunath Seth or his son Abhisek for the seat. Chances are also there to select a new face for the seat, which was with Congress for many years.
Notably, the Assembly seat is heading for a third electoral battle in less than two years since 2018. The seat had gone to by-poll in 2018, general election in 2019 and now another by-poll is on cards.
In the previous election, Naveen had contested from Bijepur seat and secured 1,10,604 votes while BJP was in second position with 53,482 votes and Congress got only 14,344 votes.