With the BJD announcing to field women in 33 per cent of the Parliamentary seats in the coming polls, Kaushalya Hikaka, wife of sitting MP Jhina Hikaka, may be given ticket for the Koraput Lok Sabha seat.
Kaushalya had met Naveen on Tuesday in connection with her candidature from the seat. Koraput was a stronghold of Congress till 2009. Former Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang had won from the constituency for nine consecutive times while Jayaram Pangi of BJD won the seat in 2009 and in 2014 Jhina won the seat.
The high drama of being abducted, kept in captivity for 34 days and later released by Maoists in 2012, Jhina then a MLA of Laxmipur, had shot to limelight. CM patnaik had kept Jhina in Bhubaneswar as he was still under Maoist threat. Kaushalya is a teacher in Unit I school in Bhubaneswar.
But this time, Jhina may not be given ticket as he is facing anti-incumbency. Though he had won the 2014 election riding high on the popularity of CM Patnaik, but he failed to reach out to the people at the grassroots through development projects.
The Pitaguda panchayat in Semiliguda block which was under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana in 2015 did not see much of development. Even Jhina did not visit the village in the last five years once.
In the BJP the two former MPs Giridhar Gamang and Jayram Pangi are hopeful of getting the ticket, while Saptagiri Ullaka, son of late Rama Chandra Ullaka, is a strong aspirant of Congress ticket.
Under these circumstances, it will be difficult for a political figure like Kaushalya to ensure win for the ruling party as she would have to fight the poll battle with veterans like Gamang and Pangi. She has no connect with locals and has been staying in Bhubaneswar after being transferred by Government on security grounds. Further, if sources are to be believed, Hikaka’s chances of contesting from Laxmipur Assembly constituency in the ensuing elections also seem bleak.