Sitting Sundargarh Congress MP and former Chief Minister Hemanand Biswal on Tuesday announced not to contest the ensuing lok Sabha election in the Congress ticket from Sundargarh Parliament seat, adding to the agony of ‘quit spree’ the State Congress has been experiencing for a few days now.
He aired his decision while expressing resentments over the selection of candidates for the Bonei and Raghunathpalli Assembly seats.
Addressing a Press meet at Sundargarh DCC president Dushmant Nayak’s residence within minutes after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) announced the names of the candidates for two lok Sabha and 118 Assembly seats, Biswal said he was surprised by the party decision to field two ‘non-Congress members’ as candidates in Bonei and Raghunathpalli seats. “I don’t know whether these two candidates belong to the Congress. The party leadership has neither sought any suggestion from the District Congress leaders nor discussed their names with me. Since it is not possible to contest the polls with the help of these two new faces, I am forced to withdraw my nominations,” the former Chief Minister said.
However, he evaded the questions on the names of the candidates he had proposed to the party leadership for the two seats. Notably, the Congress has fielded former BJP leader Bhimsen Choudhury from Bonei and Ashok Sethi, a former employee of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), from Raghunathpalli.
Meanwhile, Biswal’s reaction has raised many political speculations and assumptions in the district. While a group in the party says the confusion will be sorted out and Biswal will file the nomination, another group speculates that Bijay Toppo would contest from Sundargarh lS seat in Biswal’s place.
Some political observers feel that Biswal is trying to escape as his winnability prospect has been very blink. Similarly some others say there is no surprise of giving ticket to Choudhury as he had openly supported the Congress candidate in the recently held Rajya Sabha election and later joined the party in AICC office in New Delhi.
Of course, Raghunathpalli candidate Ashok Sethi is definitely a stranger to the party, they argue.