Bhubaneswar: Despite its tall claims of growing popularity and efforts to counter its rivals ahead of the Bijepur Assembly segment by-election, the BJP camp appears to be jittery.
Few days back, the party had knocked the door of Election Commission of India alleging election irregularities by the ruling BJD, the state unit of the saffron brigade, especially in Bargarh, is plagued by bitter infighting over the selection of Ashok Panigrahi as its candidate for the by-poll. Many local leaders are unhappy over Panigrahi’s nomination and this has increased its concerns manifold.
The saffron camp, which previously alleged that its rivals in the state are worried over its unexpected gain from panchayat elections last year, moved the Election Commission of India seeking its intervention in, what it claimed, the BJD’s ‘myriad ploys’ to win the Bijepur by-poll.
The timing of the notification of Bijepur by-poll also gave the BJP an additional advantage, as it came on a day when the ruling dispensation was facing severe backlash over the Kunduli shame.
However, despite all efforts to project itself strongly ahead of the by-poll, things do not appear to be shaping up the way the party wanted. The intra-party squabbling ahead of the by-poll in the constituency has marred its electoral prospect.
Panigrahi filed his nomination papers before the Padampur Sub-Collector-cum-Election Officer Friday, but local BJP leader Pramod Kumar Chhatar has vehemently opposed his candidature. Chhatar has even threatened to file nomination as an independent candidate to ensure Panigrahi’s defeat.
Aside from Chhatar, Narayan Sahu, a former party leader from the region, is posing another threat to the BJP’s prospects at Bijepur. The party was overjoyed when Panigrahy joined its fold deserting the BJD in protest against the ruling dispensation’s decision to nominate former MLA Subal Sahu’s widow Rita Sahu’s as its candidature for Bijepur by-poll. However, the joy was short-lived, as the saffron party received a major jolt when its Bargarh president Narayan Sahu deserted the party immediately to return to BJD.
Now, the move by Pramod Kumar Chhttar, a prominent youth leader of the party in Bargarh, to contest as an independent has come as a major challenge, thereby making the party brass in the state a nervous lot.
Pramod has alleged that loyal BJP workers are being by-passed and neglected, while giving prominence to turncoats. This has raised serious apprehensions among the party brass ahead of the Bijepur battle.
PNN
