With only a week to go for the April 17 elections, the fight for the Baleswar Parliament seat is becoming increasingly intense.
The fight is mainly centered on three major candidates, sitting MP and Union Minister Srikant Jena of the Congress, two-time MlA of Nilgiri Pratap Sarangi of the BJP and industrialist Rabindra Kumar Jena of the BJD.
While Minister Jena has a vast experience within his more than three decades of political career, Sarangi is also equally experienced and a firebrand leader. BJD’s Jena is an industrialist-turned-politician and is making his debut in politics this time. Yet, he has the advantage of fighting the elections under the banner of the ruling party and charisma of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Dr Kartikeswar Patra of the Trinamool Congress could be a game changer. Dr Parta , a former MlA and MP of the Congress, is seeking mandate for the lok Sabha seat after quitting Congress.Political observers here feel that he could take a substantial chunk of votes since he has a strong base in north Baleswar, particularly in the Bhograi segment, which is his native place.
In the 2009 polls, when Srikant Jena was the winner having secured more than 3.13 lakh votes, Arun Dey, the NCP-BJD candidate had stood second with 2.74 lakh votes and the then sitting MP Kharavela Swain had been placed in the third slot with about 2.20 lakh votes.JMM candidate Arun Jena and Samruddha Odisha candidate Debasis Ranjan Dash had got 25,000 votes each while about 35,000 votes had gone to the Independents and other political parties.