Though considered as political heavyweights, several ruling BJD MlAs proved to be duds in the just-concluded elections to the urban local bodies (UlBs) in their respective areas.
This does not augur well for them in the matter of their being re-nominated as party candidates for the next Assembly elections due in about six months. Five-time MlA and former Minister Pradeep Maharathy failed to ensure victory for the BJD in the elections to the Pipili NAC. Notably, Maharathy had been thrown out of the Cabinet for his alleged role in the infamous Pipli gang-rape case.
Two-time Nayagarh MlA and Energy Minister Arun Sahu, believed to be influential in the ruling party on the perception of his closeness to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, also failed to retain the Nayagarh NAC for the BJD. Senior Basudevpur MlA and Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray could not ensure victory for the party in the Basudevpur NAC.
Similarly, Angul MlA and Steel and Mines Minister Rajanikanta Singh came a cropper in the Angul Municipality. It is to be mentioned that Singh had been embroiled in the controversy over his alleged violation of election code of conduct following the dispatch of a fax message containing Angul BJD candidates’ list from his Ministerial office to the district Collector.
And the BJD lost the Angul UlB to the Congress despite Health Minister Damodar Rout, considered to be a ruling party strongman, being entrusted by Naveen Patnaik to look after the party’s campaigning in this industrially important town. The BJD also lost the Jagatsinghpur civic body to the Congress after more than a decade in spite of five-time local MlA and district BJD president and former Minister Bishnu Das being in-charge of the party campaigning there.
The BJD too was outsmarted in the Dhenkanal Municipality by the Congress though the party has its MlA Nabin Nanda and MP Tathagata Satpathy there who campaigned for the party. Senior Barchana MlA Amar Satpathy also failed to ensure the BJD’s victory in the Jaleswar NAC and Mahanga MlA Pratap Jena in Soro, where they were in-charge of the party’s election machinery.
Similarly, party in-charges Brahmagiri MlA Sanjay Dasvarma, who is also the chief of Biju Yuba Janata Dal, failed to clinch BJD victories in Udala, Karanjia and Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj district and Sukinda MlA and former Minister Prafulla Ghadai in Jagatsinghpur.