The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
BJD’S new face on Naveen home turf, Ranjita Sahu
RANJITA SAHU began working for the people of her small town Kodala in Odisha’s Ganjam district — connecting migrant workers from Ganjam working in Gujarat’s Surat with their elderly parents back home — when she returned from Bengaluru after completing her higher studies in 2015.
Now 33 years old, Ranjita heads an NGO for these migrant workers,kodalayouthforum,besidesrunningherhealthcarestartup. Her networks among common people are believed to have playedaroleinthebjdfieldingher from the prestigious Aska seat in Odisha in the Lok Sabha polls.
Her father Hara Prasad Sahu, a BJD leader, was an aspirant for party ticket from the Kabisuryanagar Assembly seat, which is a part of the Aska Lok Sabha constituency, but could not succeed.
A local business magnate with multiple ventures, Hara Prasad is a popular figure in the area, who has harboured political aspirations for a long time. He had even contested as an Independent from the Kabisuryanagar seat in the 2014
Assembly polls and finished as the runner-up with over 35% vote share. He later joined the BJD.
Both of Ranjita’s parents — Hara Prasad and Sunita Prabha Sahu — have been the chairperson of the Notified Area Council of Kodala. She heard the news of her nomination from Aska on a BJD ticket from her father. “Honestly, it came as a surprise,” she said. “My father is very happy, now that I have been made the Lok Sabha candidate on the seat.”
She admitted that at her age she had never thought of getting the ruling party’s nomination for the Lok Sabha polls. “Though electoral politics is new for me, I belong to a political family and have seen things from up close. I have always wanted to be in a leadership position, be it in politics or another field, for which my parents have always encouraged me. And public relations comes naturally to me,” Ranjita told The Indian Express.
The BJD debutant is hopeful of maintaining the party’s victory run on the seat from where Odisha CM and party president Naveen Patnaik began his political career following the death of his father Biju Patnaik. The CM’S Assembly segment of Hinjili too falls under the Aska LS seat.
Ranjita said Naveen’s popularity among the Odia masses and the state government’s development work will help her to win the seat.
“It’s a matter of pride to get nominated on a BJD ticket from Aska parliamentary constituency, which is a part of Ganjam district that is called ‘Mukhyamantrika Zilla (CM’S home district)’. The BJD has a solid base here, which will undoubtedly help me. When I met the CM, he advised me to work for the development of the constituency and to ensure that all state government schemes reach every nook and corner of the constituency,” said Ranjita.
Aska was earlier a Congress stronghold, with the party winning the seat four out of five times between1977and1991.itlostthe seat in 1989 to the Janata Dal. In 1996,Bijupatnaikwontheseaton a Janata Dal ticket. Following his deathayearlater,naveenwonthe seatinabypollonjanatadalticket.