Pallahara: With the elections getting closer, the political atmosphere in Pallahara Assembly constituency got heated up. However, infighting in the local unit of the BJD came to the fore.
In Pallahara, sitting MLA Mahesh Sahoo is hopeful of getting a BJD ticket. However, a section of BJD workers backed by block unit secretary Lalit Mohan Pradhan and Kailash Chandra Sahoo are opposed to Sahoo’s bid.
They are camping with their supporters at Naveen Nivas in Bhubaneswar to urge the high command not to give a ticket to Mahesh.
Lalit and Kailash said Mahesh, a former BJP MLA, ignored party workers. They pointed out that in the last panchayat elections, the BJD had lost four of the five ZP seats due to the unpopularity of Mahesh. The two warned that if he was given a ticket this time the party would definitely lose.
After Independence, 11 candidates have been elected to this Assembly constituency. However, only one member (1975) belonged to Pallahara while the rest were outsiders.
Both national and state level parties have been rehabilitating outsiders at Pallahara Assembly seat. Even decades after Independence, no significant development has taken place in Pallahara.
BJD leader Santosh Kumar Dehuri said the BJD secretary has written a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik demanding ticket to a local person this time.
In the letter, he has warned that if the ticket is not given to a local of Pallahara this time they will launch a protest from March 23 at Biju Patnaik’s statue near Pallahara New Bus Stand.
PNN