Rourkela: Even though the dates for the Assembly elections in Odisha are yet to be announced, George Tirkey is leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters in Birmitrapur Assembly constituency. Birmitrapur was once his bastion with George winning four times from the constituency. However after he quit the BJD, things have turned sour for him. George is hoping that the BJD will take him back in the party. Even if it doesn’t happen, George is planning to go ahead and fight the elections as a representative of his own creation — the ‘George Sena’. The last time George emerged victorious from the constituency was in 2014, when he contested on a Samata Kranti Dal ticket.
In 2019, he was the Congress candidate for the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat, but lost. His son, representing the Congress in Birmitrapur also lost. Undeterred, George is trying his best to regain Birmitrapur once more. He has been conducting meetings for the last eight months. George has admitted repeatedly in public that leaving ‘BJD was a big mistake’. He is hoping that by publicly renouncing his decision, he will be taken back by the BJD.
However, it has not happened so far. “I am ready to join the BJD, but I have not received any communication,” George had said a couple of weeks back. State Labour Minister Sarada Nayak was recently asked whether the BJD will take back George. “I have nothing to say on this issue. It is the high command’s decision,” Nayak had said. George however, has a handful of diehard supporters. With them he is pursuing his goal of winning from Birmitrapur with single-minded dedication. Some workers of the ‘George Sena’ called him a ‘lion who cannot be caged for long’. “The cadres of ‘George Sena’ want me to contest the Assembly polls. If I am not nominated by the BJD, then I will contest under the banner of ‘George Sena’, George said. It is clear George still has a lot of popularity. There were substantial turnouts in meetings that he conducted Sunday and Monday in the Birmitrapur constituency. “I have been on the road for eightnine months now and I am getting good responses,” he added.
As things stand, Birmitrapur may well turn out to be the cynosure of all eyes in Sundargarh district. George is trying his best to revive his old avatar. Even if can’t win, he can certainly play spoilsport to the aspirations of other heavyweights who are eyeing victory in Birmitrapur