Major political parties of the State, including Congress, BJP and BJD, have started a high voltage campaigning in the all seven Assembly constituencies and sole Parliament constituency of Sundargarh.
Though three major political parties have fielded their candidates in all the seats but the focus is on the sole unreserved Rourkela Assembly constituency as heavyweight and former Union Minister Dilip Ray is contesting polls from the seat on a BJP ticket. Ray would be in direct fight with former Minister and sitting MlA Sarada Nayak of BJD. So the voters feel it would be a straight fight between Ray and Nayak though ten more candidates are in fray, including former MlA Pravat Mohapatra of Congress.
Though another a week is left for campaign, but as on date Ray’s campaign drive is well ahead of Nayak. The political observers feel there are many advantages of Ray. Anti incumbency against Nayak and rebellion in the Rourkela BJD unit coupled with Ray’s clout in the area will add to BJP’s advantage. Keeping faith on Ray’s leadership, many leaders of BJD and Congress have been joining in the BJP here.
Surprisingly, for the first time, it is noticed that many minority community voters and leaders are rallying behind Ray here. And it is expected that the BJP workers will be upbeat further after Narendra Modi’s public meeting here on April 4, feel political thinkers here. Of course, BJD camp is also going to be rejuvenated after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s public meeting scheduled to be held on April 7 here. But then it cannot restrict public support swinging in favour of Ray.
like Rourkela, Raghunathpali is also in focus because a major chunk of the voters are the family members of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP). It has always been found that the RSP employees have a strong support for late Chief Minister Biju Patnaik. That is why BJD candidate Subrat Tarai is confident to get good support from the RSP staff and retain the seat. Besides, he carries a good impression among the voters for his personality. But his fight here will be with the BJP candidate Jagabandhu Behera, though eight more candidates are in fray including Congress’s Gajendra Tanty.
Besides Rourkela and Raghunathpali, the focus also lies on Sundargarh Parliament seat as a triangular contest is on cards. The Congress, BJP and BJD have fielded their potential candidates. While BJP national vice-president and former Union Cabinet Minister Jual Oram is in fray, incumbent MP and former Chief Minister Hemananda Biswal is Congress’s candidate and former Indian hockey icon and Rajya Sabha MP Dilip Tirkey is BJD’s candidate. Though nine more candidates are in fray, but the fight will be primarily among these three.
The political pundits say the political situation may hot up and take a new turn after April 4 and 7 rallies of Modi and Naveen Patnaik, respectively. Similarly, though these three parties have fielded candidates in all other five Assembly seats, but in Bonai CPI (M) candidate laxman Munda is in talk as BJP candidate is very new and Congress and BJD candidates are facing a revolt in their respective parties. In Biramitrapur, the prospect of Samata Kranti Dal candidate George Tirkey is brighter as BJD has fielded a comparatively new face at the last moment. In Rajgangpur, BJD candidate may be in trouble for rebel candidate Bikram Toppo. Talsara and Sundergarh Assembly seats too are poised for a triangular fight.