The withdrawal of a Congress candidate from the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) elections allegedly at the behest of a ruling BJD MlA has brought yet another slur on the BJD in the run-up to the February 6 polls. The party had faced a lot of humiliation last week when some BJD sympathisers attacked the house of its Choudwar-Cuttack MlA and physically assaulted his brother.
The controversy over forcing the Congress candidate to withdraw his nomination papers has once again led to embarrassment for the BJD.
Congress nominee Md Wasim Ismail of Ward-41 surprisingly backed out from the polls after withdrawing his nomination papers on last Friday evening although he was seen campaigning in his area the same morning.
Congress city president Md Moqim alleged, “Ismail has been incommunicado ever since he withdrew his papers. He was last seen with the close associates of Mahanga MlA Pratap Jena,” indicating that Ismail was forced to pull out from the poll race. “The BJD is spoiling the election atmosphere in the city which is very unfortunate and highly condemnable,” Moqim said.
It may be mentioned that Pratap Jena’s nephew Kaniska is the BJD candidate from Ward-41 from where as many as four candidates, including Ismail, recalled their nomination papers on Friday. It is alleged that Pratap Jena, who is also the BJD president of Cuttack district, was instrumental in securing the party ticket for his nephew and is now apparently clearing the path for Kanishka to win the election.
Meanwhile, the Congress is thinking of backing an Independent candidate in Ward-41 to counter the BJD nominee.
There are now seven candidates in the fray in this ward, including the BJP’s Swarnalata Samal and the CP(I)M’s Chandrakant Jena.