Jajpur: The Jajpur Assembly constituency comprising 20 panchayats of Dasarathpur block and 18 panchayats of Jajpur block has a special place in the political map of the district as it has remained a BJD citadel for two decades.
BJD candidate Pranab Prakash Das aka Bobby secured 70 per cent of the vote and won this seat with a huge margin in 2014.
However, things have undergone a change as this influential leader was conspicuous by his absence during the CM’s visit to the district February 19. This led to speculations that the BJD is looking for someone to replace Pranab. Rumours say that Pranab is now interested in contesting from Korei Assembly seat in this district.
Observers said that perhaps this is the reason the BJD is struggling to announce someone as its candidate here.
Meanwhile, the BJP has announced the name of Goutam Ray as its candidate while the Congress is finding it difficult to name a candidate.
Jajpur is known a BJD bastion. The Congress had won East Jajpur and West Jajpur in 1951 and 1957. The last win of the party here was in 1980.
Later on, the seat was represented by candidates of Utkal Congress, Jan Congress, Janata Party, Janata Dal and later the BJD.
The seat was a reserved constituency from 1957 to 2004 before the re-organisation of Assembly seats. From 2009 it is meant for general category candidates. Pranab Prakash won twice from this seat on a BJD ticket.
Pranab Prakash defeated Santosh Kumar Nanda of the Congress by a margin of 84,613 votes in 2014 and became the Power Minister. However, he was removed from the Cabinet in 2017.
Jajpur town has undergone a makeover in the last five years and the Jajpur Municipality is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
The BJD has a history of changing its candidate here. The party fielded Suryamani Jena in 2000, Parameshwar Sethi in 2004 and Pranab in 2009.
Observers say that the BJD might field Pranab’s brother and former Jajpur civic body chief Bhaba Prasad Das in this seat if it fields the former from another seat. There are also rumours that the party might field a nephew of the Chief Minister from this seat.
When contacted, Bhaba Prasad rejected the claims of contesting from this seat and termed them as baseless. He said he has been a party activist and would continue to be so in future. Attempt to contact Pranab for his comments proved futile.
The BJP which has named Goutam Ray as its candidate is trying to cash in on its success in the last panchayat elections.
The party had registered an unprecedented success in the last panchayat elections and its vote share rose from 15 per cent to 32 per cent. It boosted the morale of party workers and many started flocking to the party.
The series of visits of BJP President Amit Shah and Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has come as a booster for party cadres, but observers are sceptical on whether this will translate into votes.
Ray said he is contesting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development plank and that his party will create history in the district during the polls.
The Congress candidate had secured only 13.14 per cent of the votes in 2014 which is good as losing deposits. The party also performed miserably in the last panchayat election and slipped to the third slot.
The hopefuls in the run for the party ticket are previous candidate Santosh Nanda, AICC Member Pulin Puhan and senior Congress leader Balabhadra Das.
They are all hopeful of getting the party ticket, and said they would abide by the party’s decision even if they do not get the ticket. They said they would work for the candidate whom the party selects.
PNN
