Phulbani: Once in the spotlight for riots after the murder of a VHP leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati in 2008, the tribal dominated Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat in Odisha is witnessing a pitched triangular battle among BJD, BJP and Congress.
Though five candidates are in the fray, the main fight is between BJD’s Achyuta Samanta, Kharavela Swain of BJP and Monoj Acharya of the Congress. Kandhamal will go to polls in the second phase of elections, April 18.
While Samant, an edu-entrepreneur and Rajy Sabha member, is ‘confident’ of wining the seat due to the clean image and charisma of BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and also his own social contributions, three-time MP Swain banks on the achievements of Narendra Modi Government.
Acharya of the Congress pins his hope on the traditional votes of the ‘Grand Old Party’ and anti-incumbency mood against the ruling BJD in the constituency with over 12.59 lakh electorate.
The Kandhamal parliamentary seat was created in 2008 in place of erstwhile Phulbani after the presidential notification for the delimitation of constituencies. However, the constituency came to limelight due to the riots that rocked the state in the aftermath of the killing of Saraswati in 2008. The episode finally led to breakup between BJD and BJP.
Kandhas, considered as the original tribal inhabitants of the area, and Panos, a scheduled caste community, wield considerable influence in the constituency, where Christians also comprise a sizable section of population.
The ruling BJD, which was looking for a new face for Kandhamal, is stated to have played a tribal card by fielding Samanta as tribals form a sizable population in the seat though it is unreserved.
Known for his role in providing educational facilities to tribal children in his institutes, Samanta has also got an opportunity to make a foray into direct politics with his nomination for the Lok Sabha constituency.
The soft spoken Samanta has a ‘pro-tribal’ image for his social work. He also enjoys acceptability among both Hindus and Christians because of his non-controversial identity.
Kandhamal has been a BJD fort where it won in 2009 Lok Sabha polls despite polarisation following the killing of Saraswati.
In 2014 too, BJD candidate Hemendra Chandra Singh won with a margin of 1,81,017 votes securing 50.21 per cent votes. However, following his untimely death BJD nominated Singh’s wife Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh who retained the seat in a by-election by beating her nearest BJP nominee Rudramadhab Ray by a whopping margin of 2,98,868 votes and bagging 61.54 per cent of the votes polled.
Pratyusha, however, quit the ruling BJD after being denied re-nomination this time and subsequently joined the BJP.
Much before the election schedule was announced, Samanta had launched various activities in the constituency. He had recently laid the foundation of a branch of Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS) near Daringibadi in this district.
Samanta has said that since the Chief Minister wants ‘speedy development’ in the district, he will do so if elected.
Swain of BJP has also reached out to the voters projecting himself as an ‘honest’ and committed worker. He has also been highlighting the work done by the BJP-led government at the Centre for development in different spheres and welfare of all sections.
Congress nominee Acharya said that people in the area are angry over lack of basic facilities and improper implementation of various welfare schemes including MGNREGA. The benefits of Kalia scheme for farmers also ‘failed’ to reach the targeted beneficiaries, he claimed. He felt that these factors would help him to win.