G UDAYAGIRI: With elections nearing, political parties are leaving no stone unturned to win the G Udayagiri Assembly constituency in Kandhamal district.
Reserved for tribals, G Udayagiri is one of the three Assembly seats in the district. The areas coming under this Assembly seat are G Udayagiri block, Daringbadi block, Tikabli block and Raikia block and the G Udayagiri NAC.
Congress leads with eight wins in the last 15 elections held in this constituency. Described as a ‘Congress Fort’, four-time MLA Nagarjun Pradhan ruled the roost here from 1980 to 1995.
The BJD could not defeat the Congress in this constituency. The BJD won just once in 2000 through Saluga Pradhan.
It was followed by Ajayanti Pradhan of the Congress in 2004, the BJP’s Manoj Pradhan in 2009 and Jacob Pradhan of the Congress in 2014.
Jacob won with 98,669 votes last time. He was followed by BJD’s Pradip Pradhan with 48,958 and BJP’s Mangobind Pradhan with 27,295 votes.
Now, in a bid to defeat the Congress, both the BJD and the BJP are all set with foolproof plans. As the highest number of voters is in Daringbadi block, the Kashmir of Odisha, ticket hopefuls are trying to attract voters here.
Reports suggest that MLA Jacob Pradhan and Congress youth wing leader Pratap Pradhan are in the race for the ticket.
Similarly, in the BJD, district youth wing president Pradip Pradhan, Zilla Parishad chairperson Akanksha Pradhan, former MLA Saluga Pradhan, state BJD women’s wing secretary Jalina Priyadarshini, former Raikia sarpanch Geetanjali Nayak, Special Development Council chairperson Rodan Mallick, Raikia block chairperson Manini Pradhan, Nirupama Mallick and social worker Paul Pradhan are in the race.
The BJP ticket hopefuls are district vice-president Mangobind Pradhan, district Adivasi Morcha president Basant Pradhan, Raikia mandal president Sarat Pradhan, Krushak Morcha president Abaneswar Pradhan, Jaju Pradhan, district women’s wing leaders Archana Pradhan and Sanghamitra Pradhan.
The long list of ticket hopefuls has added to the worries of both the BJP and the BJD. However, they are hopeful of giving a tough fight to the Congress this time as there are no major development projects in the constituency.
“No steps were taken to declare G Udayagiri a sub-division, fill up the vacancies of doctors in hospitals or construct a bus stand in G Udayagiri. These are the main reasons we think the Congress is unfit to rule,” a hopeful said.
“The Congress failed to raise the problems of the people in the Lok Sabha. We will take up development projects if we come to power,” BJD leader Pradip Pradhan said.
Similarly, BJP hopeful Mangobind Pradhan said their party would focus on education, lack of teachers and irregularities in the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and road connectivity to rural areas to attract voters.
MLA Jacob Pradhan refuted allegations that no development projects were undertaken, and blamed both the BJP-led Centre and the BJD government in the state for neglecting his constituency.