Caste row may lead to cancellation of his candidature
Even if Ramesh Patua filed his nomination for the Rengali (SC) Assembly seat before the Returning Officer- cum-the Sub-Collector of Sambalpur on Friday as a BJD candidate, but serious allegation has been brought against him by the people here.
It is a well-known fact that Patua is a handpick of Rengali BJD leader MV Pyariraj who couldn’t contest the elections owing to caste reason.He has brought Patua, one of his supporters, into the fray so that he enjoys the power while his henchman is the MlA.
But opponents bring the allegation that Patua belongs to ‘Chhippi’ community and is a migrant from the neighbouring Chhattisgarh State.Hence, he is not entitled to avail the benefit of caste in Odisha. language dailies have also carried news on Patua’s caste. It is further alleged that his original title is Namdev and in order to get caste benefit, he has changed it to Patua. Pramod Suna and Jayakrishna Podh have brought such allegation against him and both have also brought the matter to the notice of the BJD president Naveen Patnaik.
“We apprehend that Patua’s nomination may be cancelled during scrutiny and the BJD will be at a losing end in such situation in Rengali.
Hence, the party president needs to give a second look and not get biased by any influential leaders of the district to filed Patua,” Suna and Podh demanded.
When contacted, returning officer cum the sub collector of Sambalpur Prasant Kumar Sahu said that he was aware of the issue. “But I am waiting for the newspaper cutting and the comments of the Media Cell exclusively operating for the election purpose,” he said. “Action as per rules will be taken since it is a sensitive issue and the district has a track record of such cases of political leaders earlier,” he added.