While the BJP has snatched away the Puri Assembly seat from the BJD in the recently-held elections, the fate of senior BJD leader and defeated MLA Maheswar Mohanty seems to be impacted by results of civic body polls, which are likely to be held sometime by August this year.
If Mohanty’s efforts succeed to retain the municipality in the BJD fold, it would not only prove his mettle but also avenge the BJP for loss of the Assembly seat. Notably, the BJD has retained the municipality in its fold for the last 35 for years under the leadership of Mohanty.
Most stunningly, BJP candidate Jayant Sarangi defeated Mohanty by a margin of 4,008 votes in the Assembly polls. Mohanty, who was Chairman of the municipality 35 years ago, tasted the defeat losing the Assembly seat to Sarangi, a junior to him. This has ashamed his supporters.
Sources said that taking poll debacle as a prestige issue, Mohanty has started ground works for the civic body polls. He has conducted internal reviews to know reasons about his defeat and expedited BJD municipality candidates’ selection procedures. The BJD Councillors, who had backstabbed him in the Assembly polls, would not be given party tickets for the upcoming polls. Mohanty’s possible elevation as a Rajya Sabha member depends on the performance in the municipality elections.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Sarangi has too taken the civic body elections as a big challenge since he has to prove his mettle again. The BJD Councillors who had supported him are likely to be fielded by the BJP.