The parliamentary polls will be very significant this time in Jagatsinghpur district. Five-time MlA and former Minister Bishnu Das is hesitant to contest as a MP candidate as it is reliably learnt from confirmed sources that he wants to get a berth in the coming BJD Ministry, if he wins the elections for the sixth time and the BJD gets majority to form the Government.
However, Das has his loyal followers like Rajshree Mallick. Rajashree is an alien to the Jagatsinghpur Parliamentary constituency. The desire of Das to field her is thwarted by another heavyweight of the district and an arch rival of Das Health Minister Dr Damodar Rout. On the contrary Dr Rout’s loyalist Dr Kulamani Samal is bent with age and lacks mobility.
Another aspirant Ashok Sethy promoted by his mentor, former Minister Surendra Nath Nayak, does not have the acceptability. He is still in a Government job and a novice in politics. Besides, he is quite unknown to other Assembly segments except in Kakatpur and Nimapara.
It is learnt that another aspirant Rohit Kumar Sethy, a lIC officer, who belongs to Balikuda-Ersama constituency and working at Jagatsinghpur district headquarters, also is lobbying hard to get a BJD Ticket. A young social activist and trade union leader as Rohit is, he has the support of an approximately 12,000 self sufficient lIC agents and hundreds of policy holders. The BJD high command is possibly in a fix to decide as to who should be chosen for ticket.