The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
In Sambalpur, BJD pits Naveen’s aide against Pradhan
THE SAMBALPUR Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha is gearing up for a high-profile contest after the ruling BJD Wednesday announced its first list of candidates and fielded its organisational secretary and sitting Jajpur MLA, Pranab Prakash Das against Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP’S pick for the seat.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik released the list of candidates for 15 of 21 LS seats and 72 of the 147 Assembly seats for the simultaneous polls. Patnaik, who contested from Bijepur apart from his traditional seat of Hinjili in 2019 Assembly polls, will only fight from his home turf this time.
The nomination of das,who is popularly known as Bobby, from Sambalpur came on expected lines after he was appointed district observer in March last year.
Bobby is de facto number two in the BJD and is seen as a close aide of Patnaik’s trusted aid eV K Pandian, who has been involved in party’s organisational works in Sambalpur over the past year.
Even as many see Bobby as an unconventional choice for the seat in western Odisha considering his identity as a prominent coastal face, BJD insiders said fielding him against Pradhan is a “well-thought out” strategy. The seat will go to polls on May 25.
“Given Bobby’s clout in the party, all cadre will be mobilised for him, especially after the completion of the first two phases. Though the LS fight will be a tough one, we do not want to lose out on Assembly seats,” a senior BJD leader said, requesting anonymity. In 2019, Patnaik elevated Bobby to organisational secretary, a post which was specially created for him.
Pradhan, who last contested the Assembly elections from the Pallahara seat in 2009 and lost, is returning to electoral politics after a 15-year hiatus from a seat where the caste arithmetic, dominated by the OBC Chasa (farmer) community to which he belongs, is said to be in his favour.
Like it did in 2014, the BJD has fielded Hockey India president and former Indian hockey team captain Dilip Tirkey from Sundargarh, a St-reserved seat, to take on BJP candidate and former Union Minister Jual Oram, who won the 2014 polls.
Meanwhile, Manmath Routray, the younger son of six-time Congress MLA Suresh Routray and a former commercial pilot, who joined the BJD Wednesday, has been fielded by party from Bhubaneswar, where he will take on BJP national spokesperson Aparajita Sarangi.
Bangiriposi MLA and state minister Sudam Marndi has been fielded by the BJD from the LS Mayurbhanj seat while in Nabarangpur it has fielded former working president of Odisha Congress Pradeep Majhi, who won the seat in the 2009 polls.
In another list of six LS candidates announced by Patnaik later, the BJD nominated former Mumbai police commissioner Arup Patnaik as its candidate for the Puri seat, thereby denying a ticket to lawyer-turned-politician Pinaki Mishra. The former top cop will face off against BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.
The party has fielded new entrant and corporate honcho Santrupt Misra from Cuttack, where sitting MP Bhartuhari has switched to the BJP.