Suresh Pujari, who has been given the BJP ticket to fight from the Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency, is also a victim of conspiracy in the party, according to many of his supporters.
When he was an aspirant for the Sambalpur LS seat where he had prospects of victory, he was cast away to Bargarh, they alleged.
In 1992, Pujari had won the Sambalpur Municipality Chairman electiondefeating erstwhile BJP, Congress and Janata Dal leaders of the district. Biju Patnaik was then Chief Minister of the State.
He also got remarkable numbers of votes from the Sambalpur Assemblyconstituency in 1995 as an independent candidate and was placed in the second position after winner Durga Shankar Patnaik of the Congress.
“But when he joined the BJP, many people in the party couldn’t digest it in fear that the highly educated leader might outshine them. They even started their brain exercise against him,” said Ashok Mishra, an impartial political observer.
Hence, instead of Sambalpur seat, he was given party tickets in Brajarajnagar constituency, which is a stronghold of Communists, in 2000 and onwards. The Congress and Communist candidate have won the seat seven times each. Pujari fought three elections there and got defeated by a narrow margin each time.
But when he created a base for the BJP in the fort of Communists and Congress, then he was given the Sambalpur LS seat in 2014, which he lost to BJD’s Nagendra Pradhan by a slender margin of votes, said Mishra.
This time when the possibility of winnability was more for him in the Sambalpur PC, he was shifted to Bargarh, rued Mishra and many others.
“This is nothing but a conspiracy against the veteran leader and the conspirator is well known to all,” they said.
When contacted, Pujari refused to give any comment. “I am a disciplined BJP worker. Whatever party will direct me, I will do that,” said Pujari.