In the Assembly elections of 2014, the BJD won three seats in Jagatsinghpur district, losing one, the Jagatsinghpur constituency, to the Congress, whose candidate Chiranjib Biswal defeated BJD district president Bishnu Charan Das, a five-time MlA.
Other winning BJD candidates were Prasant Kumar Muduli from Balikuda-Erasama, Dr Rajashree Mallick from Tritol, Dr Damodar Rout from Paradip.
But the Paradip constituency now witnesses a critical situation for the BJD because of intraparty discordance. The 2019 elections in Paradip are likely to be triangular contest. The Congress is rebuilding itself at the grassroots level while the BJP is making some growth. However, the BJD’s fortunes are dwindling. Damodar Rout is losing credibility due to his endless off-the-cuff controversial utterances, sometimes bordering on shamelessness. It was because of one of such statements against the Brahmin community that he was removed from the Cabinet and party executive body and post of vice-president by Naveen Patnaik.
For maintaining balance in the BJD in view of the Paradip politics, Damodar Rout’s son Sambit Routray was appointed as BJD State secretary. But Rout continues with his unsavoury statements such as he did on the sidelines of the BJD’s Mahanadi movement valedictory meeting at Paradip. He strangely commented against district BJD president Bishnu Das before media, saying he doesn’t know who Bishnu Das is and who the BJD district president is. This was because of his long-drawn personal animosity towards Das.
However, Rout’s organising capability was in question when he failed to ensusre a gathering of 20,000 people at the Mahanadi agitation valedictory rally as desired by BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik. There were only 8,000 people, that too because of the efforts of MlAs Prasant Muduli and Rajashree Mallick, Bishnu Das and Biju Patnaik lover and prominent Paradip trade union leader Santosh Kumar Pattnaik. Santosh Pattnaik mobilised thousands of people including women with water pots and fishermen with nets. They welcomed the CM with a very impressive rally from Kujang to Hata Chhak. In fact, Rout has never mobilised a big gathering for any meeting of the CM before.
Party sources say Rout’s close supporters Paradip Municipality Chairman Basant Kumar Biswal and BJD Paradip Town president Sumant Kumar Biswal are now maintaining a distance from him. So also is the case with Jagatsinghpur BJD MP Kulamani Samal. It is for his foul mouth that many BJD well-wishers have been moving away from the party. In the 2017 Zilla Parishad elections, two BJD seats in Rout’s constituency had been wrested by the BJP because of his egoistic manner.
In reality, trade union leader Santosh Pattnaik continues to work for the BJD in Paradip organising supporters for the CM’s meetings, celebration of Biju Patnaik’s birth and death anniversaries, State-level writers. and poets’ meets on the occasion of Bijubabu death anniversary and collection of a whopping 4,006 units of blood through the party’s Jeevan Bindu programme. No wonder, Rout is losing his ground gradually and Santosh Pattnaik is gaining strength, particularly with the support of district president Bishnu Das. So, an intolerant Rout has been passing uncouth comments against Pattnaik, especially for the fear of losing BJD ticket for the 2019 elections.