The BJD party workers of Umarkote are excited as sitting two-time MLA Subash Gond has been renominated for the upcoming polls.

After the announcement of his name by party supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the local BJD workers in thousand went to Gond’s resident and greeted his family members. Gond, a close associate of slain MLA Jagabandhu Majhi, was handpicked by the BJD and fielded as its nominee during the by-election to the Umarkote Assembly constituency. He was the vice-president of the Dalit Samaj headed by former MLA Jagabandhu before he merged it with the BJD. Besides having good network of workers because of his close proximity to Jagabandhu, Gond had his own sphere of influence as the vice-president of the Dalit Samaj. He has got great applause for his various public friendly initiatives which made him the MLA of Umarkote twice, said local leader of BJD Parsuram Patro. The party supremo has reposed faith on him and nominated him once again to serve the people of the constituency, Patro added. There was a speculation of BJD fielding a new face as in the last panchayat election, the performance of the BJD in Umarkote constituency under the leadership of Gond was found dismal.  Sanraj Gond who is presently a Sarapanch in Raighar block was also in the race for a BJD ticket from the seat. However, BJD leaders raised sloganeering protesting Sanraj in a party meeting held at Sirliguda headed by Sanjay Das Burma, the district observer of BJD.

They warned that a change of nominee would be a dangerous move. Pramad Padhy, a senior BJD leader of the district, said, “The general elections are different from the Panchayat election. Due to the influence of the BJP led Chhattisgarh Government then, the BJP performed well in the Panchayats adjacent to the Chhattisgarh border.

But now the situation is different in Chhattisgarh. So this time, the BJD will perform well in the bordering areas.”