kendrapara: The return of veteran politician, Bijoy Mohapatra, 68, to the BJP Thursday was welcomed by party leaders as they are sure that his popularity in Kendrapara would definitely help the saffron party’s Lok Sabha candidate, Baijayant Panda, to win and also ensure the party’s victory in the Assembly seats of Mahakalapada and Patkura.
But a section of the BJP’s district unit is not happy with Bijoy’s comeback. Several BJP leaders, including Bhuban Mohan Jena, a state executive member, said that Bijoy was never a BJP man, but had engaged in anti-party activities in the past.
Bijoy had earlier said that his decision to join the BJP in 2009 was a mistake, and that he had taken the decision in haste.
“So this time has he taken the decision after proper thought,” asked BJP leaders at the party office here Thursday.
They said that Bijoy, who had engaged in anti-party activities and had criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP president Amit Shah, had failed to get into other parties even though he had negotiated with their senior leaders, and had finally returned to the BJP as there was no other option left.
“Bijoy is an opportunist. He has a good equation with all political parties,” BJP workers here alleged.
He has to answer the 58,000 voters who had voted for him in the Mahakalapada Assembly seat about the promises he had made during the 2014 polls, said Bhuban Mohan Jena, and a ticket hopeful in Mahakalapada.
Some BJP supporters asked their leaders not to give a party ticket to Bijoy this time. They said the party should give a ticket to Bijoy only if remains in the party till 2024.
Bijoy had given his resignation letter to BJP president Amit Shah November 30, 2018 due to differences with the party’s top brass. Earlier, he was expelled from the Kendrapara BJP district committee in December 2017.
District BJP president Duryodhan Sahu had said in a lighter vein November 30 last year that if a person opens a paan shop in the district in the name of Bijoy Mohapatra it would have to close as the veteran had lost his sheen completely.
The reaction of Duryodhan about Bijoy’s return to the party was not available.
The BJP’s priority now is to remove the BJD from power in the state. But Bijoy will face challenges within the district unit of the party, and that could spell doom for the BJP, political observers said.
One thing that is sure with the return of Bijoy is that the deck is now clear for a keen contest between the BJD and the BJP for the Lok Sabha seat.
If BJP fights as one under the leadership of Bijoy then there is every possibility of the home turf of BJD crumbling as he has a large number of supporters.
Baijyanta Panda, the BJP candidate in Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, brought back Bijoy to the party with an eye on his support base, said political observers.
Sources said there is every possibility that Bijoy would contest either from Mahakalapada or Patkura Assembly seats on a BJP ticket this time.
Bijoy came back to the BJP after detailed discussions with the party’s vice-president Baijayant Panda and Odisha in-charge Arun Singh, who met him at his residence here Thursday. Bijoy also had a telephone conversation with senior leaders like Amit Shah.
Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, the sitting BJD MLA of Mahakalapada, said Bijoy’s return to the BJP would not affect the BJD in anyway.
He said Kendrapara and Mahakalapada are BJD bastions and the district would remain Biju Karmabhumi. The BJD would win once again in the LS seat and its Assembly segments, he added.
Atanu had defeated his arch rival, Bijoy, by 23,315 votes in 2014.
In 2009, the BJD candidate in Patkura Assembly seat, Bed Prakash Agrawalla, had defeated Bijoy by 26,772 votes.
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