Nuapada: The BJP, BJD and Congress are trying to woo the tribal voters in the Nuapada assembly byelection, as they constitute more than 33 per cent of the total electorate of the constituency.
The Congress has fielded Ghasiram Majhi, a local tribal man from Nuapada, while the BJD candidate Snehangini Chhuria hails from the SC community. The BJP nominee Dholakia is from the general category.
In the 2024 Assembly elections, BJD candidate Rajendra Dholakia had won the seat, defeating Ghasiram Majhi, who had contested as an Independent after he was denied a ticket by the Congress. The BJP candidate had finished third.
Keeping in view the key role of tribals in Nuapada, all the parties have prepared separate strategies to woo the tribals, who constitute 33.80 per cent of the 2.53 lakh electorate.
Targeting the tribal voters, the BJD held a Tribal Convention at Adivasi Samaj Bhawan, Tanuat, Nuapada, Thursday.
A large number of tribal leaders and tribal community members participated in our convention and openly expressed their support for the BJD candidate, BJD senior vice president Debi Prasad Mishra said.
He claimed that it was Naveen Patnaik who always prioritised education, health, livelihood, and social justice for the tribal population.
In her address at the tribal convention, BJD candidate Snehangini Chhuria voiced serious concerns over the deteriorating condition of tribals under the present BJP government.
The tribal community feels unsafe under the BJP regime, with increasing incidents of violence, exploitation, and atrocities, including cases of sexual assault in tribal school hostels. The BJD will continue to fight for the dignity, safety, and rights of tribal people, Chhuria said.
The BJD has revoked the expulsion order of the prominent tribal leader of Nuapada, Bhanu Pratap Singh Majhi, a Zilla Parishad member. He was expelled from the regional party in 2024 for opposing the official candidate the last time.
The ruling BJP, which has fielded late BJD MLA Rajendra Dholakia’s son Jay, has also taken several measures to woo the tribals.
The party has been highlighting how the tribals are promoted by the BJP and cited the example of tribal leader Mohan Charan Majhi becoming the chief minister of Odisha and Droupadi Murmu being the President of India.
The BJP leaders are telling the people that Odisha’s Sundergarh MP Jual Oram, a tribal man, is the Union Minister for Tribal Affairs.
It was former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who opened a separate Tribal Affairs ministry for the welfare of the community and present PM Narendra Modi has unveiled several welfare schemes for tribals, said BJP spokesperson Anil Biswal.
He claimed that the tribals have now understood who is their real friend is. They have rejected both Congress and BJD, Biswal claimed.
Prominent tribal leader Bhujabal Adabang, who had secured 5,655 votes as an Independent candidate in the Nuapada constituency in the 2024 Assembly elections, joined the BJP Wednesday, giving a boost to the saffron party ahead of the bypolls.
Congress candidate Ghasiram Majhi, who hailed from the tribal community, claimed that he gets blessings of tribal people in each election he contested in the past and is optimistic of the continuance of the similar love and affection from the community.
Making a tribal, the candidate in the by-poll proves that Congress was the real friend of the community. Both the BJD and the BJP have done damage to tribals and kept them backwards for decades, Majhi said.
To woo the tribal voters, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das participated in Giri Govardhan Puja at Tarbod village, Nuapada, along with party candidate Ghasiram Majhi.
The tribals all along love Congress and this time have decided to send one of their community members to the Assembly to fight for them, Das said.
