Bhubaneswar: Resentment and dissension over distribution of party tickets were evident in all the three leading parties in Odisha – Biju Janata Dal, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.
The rebel factor is quite high in the ruling BJD as the number of aspirants is higher in the party than dissenters in the two national parties.
Sitting Morada MLA Praveen Chandra Bhanjdeo has quit BJD and joined the saffron party Tuesday.
Similarly, BJD vice-president and former minister Raghunath Mohanty joined the BJP after quitting BJD as he saw no scope of getting a party ticket to his desired assembly constituency Basta. The BJP, in all likelihood, may nominate Mohanty for Basta which will eat into BJD vote bank.
Meanwhile, Deogarh district president Sudhir Kapardar ended his 12-year-long association with BJD, Tuesday as he was an aspirant to Deogarh seat but the party allotted the ticket to RR Biswal.
Khandapada MLA Anubhav Patnaik also revolted as the party nominated Soumya Ranjan Patnaik for the seat. Patnaik has never won the seat so far. Anubhav Patnaik who held a meeting of his supporters is likely to contest the elections independently.
Opposing candidature of Sanjeev Mallick from Bhadrak Assembly seat, supporters of MLA Jugal Patnaik (BJD) have demanded nomination of Patnaik’s son Asit Patnaik to the seat.
Among others, BJD ticket aspirants Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera, MLAs Debashis Nayak (Bari) and Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo (Athamalik) have been denied tickets. Now, all eyes are set on what action these leaders would take.
Behera’s supporters Tuesday staged protests at Naveen Niwas demanding reconsideration of the candidature for Jaydev.
The BJD has, so far, denied tickets to 12 sitting MPs and 41 MLAs including Cabinet Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera. So far, three MPs – Arjun Sethi (Bhadrak), Balabhadra Majhi (Nabarangpur) and Pratyusha Rajeshwari Singh (Kandhamal) have quit the party and joined the saffron camp.
Of the six sitting legislators who were denied party tickets five MLAs joined BJP – Praveen Bhanjdeo (Morada), Sukanta Nayak (Nilagiri), Debraj Mohanty (Aska), Purna Chandra Nayak (Daspalla) and Basanati Mallick (Mohana).
The saffron party may reconsider its candidate for Morada as the sitting MLA has joined the party Tuesday. Former MLA of Paralakhemundi K Narayan Rao and Sundargarh’s Kusum Tete have left the BJD and joined BJP.
The Congress party is also facing the heat from rebels. Udayagiri Congress MLA Jacob Pradhan quit the party on being denied a ticket and filed his papers as an independent candidate. Former Bargarh MLA Sadhu Nepak has joined the BJD.
Disappointed by ticket distribution, three former MLAs – Gobardhan Das, Kumarmani Shabar and Jugaram Behera have left Congress.
Senior leader in Bargarh Subash Chouhan has left the BJP to join BJD following denial of ticket to him. Chouhan has lost last election by a margin of 11,000 votes. His joining the BJD will eat into the BJP vote share. Similarly, Khariar MLA Duryodhan Majhi (BJP), Nilagiri’s Santosh Khatua and Sushama Biswal are now in the BJD.
Interestingly, two BJP MLAs – Bhagirathi Sethi (Anandapur) and Tusharkanti Behera (Kakatpur) – have joined BJD. While Sethi has been nominated from his seat, BJP may consider replacing its candidate for Kakatpur seat to accommodate Behera.