Athagarh MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain has reasons to feel cornered in the BJD. While bypassing him many leaders junior to him have been promoted as Ministers or assigned important positions, Swain not only lies neglected but even his ticket from BJD in the coming elections looks uncertain.
Even for six consecutive terms he was represented from Athagarh Assembly constituency, only one time he was given the Sports ministry in the State from 2000 to 2004 when he had defeated the then Congress stalwart and former CM JB Patnaik here. Junior leaders like Debi Prasad Mishra, Pratap Jena, Debasish Samantaray and Pravat Biswal are given more importance than him.
A buzz is around that Tanaya Pattnaik, director of Kanak News channel and daughter of Soumyaranjan Patnaik who was inducted in BJD and elected as the Rajya Sabha member from the party recently would get the BJD ticket in the next election. She may take it as a challenge as her grandfather and former CM JB Patnaik was defeated by Swain in Athagarh.
Swain’s voices of resentment are almost clear as he criticised in the Assembly Health Minister Pratap Jena dubbing the PPP mode in his department as ‘Pratap Private Partnership’. During the last Assembly session, he also criticised founder of KISS and KIMS and present Rajya Sabha member Achyuta Samanta for deceiving the common men in his medical.
Swain has had a rollercoaster ride in the BJD. Even the ticket in 2009 general election was uncertain till the last time. Due to several reasons, his candidature was cancelled by the then Returning Officer.
Swain had supported one of his political workers Ramesh Rout who had filed nomination as a dummy candidate.
Both BJD president Naveen Patnaik and the then second power centre of the party Pyarimohan Mohapatra had campaigned for Rout who was regarded as BJD supported candidate in the constituency in 2009. As a result, Rout had won the election by defeating former Chief Engineer Bichitrananda Muduli, a Congress candidate.
However, Rout was kept as a hostage in the official quarter of Swain and when the first session of the Assembly started, he was escorted to the Speaker’s chamber for tendering resignation.
The idea is to pave way for by election so that Swain again gets the opportunity to file nomination in Athagrah. But all hell let loose when Rout was manhandled by some workers of Swain at his home village of Radhagobindpur.
Rout absconded thereafter intimating the Speaker that his resignation was not suo motto, rather forced. The incident set off a hue and cry as to how a legislator was unsafe due to goondaism. The ruling BJD party was in a spot.
After remaining underground for over a week, Rout was resurfaced and continued as MLA of Athagarh for about two and a half years. Meantime, Swain had started a legal battle against Rout filing a suit in the Orissa High Court challenging the candidature of Rout. After winning the case in the Supreme Court, Swain contested as BJD candidate for Athagarh by election in 2012.
But how far the electorates of Athagarh would prefer him this time is a big question mark. As he has done nothing eye catching in Athagarh despite having represented the area for over 28 years, his popularity has certainly nosedived, opined political observers here.
On the contrary, during his representation period, many units like Jagannath Spinning Mill, Maa Bauti Spinning Mill, Government cold store, OMFED chilling plant, dyeing factory have been shut down and crores of money allegedly have been embezzled in Athagarh stadium renovation project.
Almost all the colleges and NAC offices have turned the rehabilitation centre of Swain’s henchmen.
Meanwhile, a youth leader, Abhaya Barik, is seen busy in organising the BJD in the Athagarh constituency for about two years.
Recently, he gathered over 10,000 BJD workers under his leadership in Athagarh town challenging Swain’s organisation.