After a long duration, the sudden visit of Odisha Jan Morcha (OJM) president Pyarimohan Mohapatra to Sundargarh on Monday has triggered political speculations in Sundargarh district, including this steel city.
Mohapatra arrived at Sundargarh in evening and stayed for hardly one and a half hours. He had a close-door meeting with his party workers and then a chat with media people. Even among the people who visited him there was a group from the Raghunathpalli area near Rourkela. Though OJM supporters said that Mohapatra’s visit was in view of the November 22 municipal elections but political observers felt that it was meant for prior preparations for the 2014 Assembly polls.
Among others, Baikuntha Kalo of Talsara and leaders of Balishankara, lephripada and Sabdega block were accompanying Mohapatra. In another development, Samata Kranti Dal leader and former Union Minister Braja Kishore Tripathy’s visit to the steel city on a daylong programme and the presence of many HMS and RMS leaders at the Rourkela railway station to receive him has added to the worry of the BJD leaders here, according to political observers.