Bolangir: With only three days left for the second phase of polls, nominees of all political parties have intensified their campaigns in Bolangir Lok Sabha seat and the seven Assembly seats under it.
The parliamentary seat is likely to see a tough fight among the nominees of the three major parities – the BJP, the BJD and the Congress.
The BJP has fielded its three-time MP Sangita Singhdeo for the fourth time, while the BJD has fielded its two-time MP Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo. The Congress has given ticket to a new face, Samarendra Mishra, the son of the Leader of Opposition Narasingh Mishra.
There are eight candidates in the fray here.
All the parties have adopted their ‘unique’ strategies to win the seat. Sangita Singhdeo has descended on the campaign, banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity. She was seen, during rallies and road shows, trying to impress upon the people by highlighting various welfare schemes and programmes being implemented by the NDA government at the Centre. Sangita has laid stress on development of Bolangir and Sonepur districts.
During the campaign, the BJP candidate has been assuring the electorate to expedite the on-going Lower Suktel project, provision of drinking water in all villages, progress of the Bolangir-Khurda railway project, setting up of agro-based industries in Bolangir and Sonepur and creating employment opportunities for the unemployed. At the same time, she has been lambasting the BJD government over various issues.
The BJD nominee Kalikesh Singhdeo is also pledging to expedite the Lower Suktel project, setting up of a pilot training centre at Tusura, ensuring extension of the Bolangir-Khurdha railway line up to Sonepur, agro-based industry at Sonepur and upgrading the Rajendra University to a quality educational centre.
He has been highlighting the failures of the Modi government at the Centre.
On the other hand, though Congress nominee Samarendra Mishra is facing election for the first time, he is confident that his organisational skills and link with the grassroots will give him electoral dividends.
He said that though the BJD and the BJD have had their MPs in the area for a long time, there are various issues in the district that need to be dealt with on an urgent basis.
The major issues, according to Mishra, are labour migration, lack of job opportunity for local youths, delay in completing the Lower Suktel project, lack of irrigation in several pockets and absence of agro-based industries in the region.
Other issues that the Congress has laid stress on are raising the paddy MSP to Rs 2,600 per quintal, waiver of farm loans and loan waiver to SHGs.
The Bolangir parliamentary segment comprises five Assembly seats – Bolangir, Losingha, Patnagarh, Titlagarh and Kantabanjhi in Bolangir district and two seats – Birmaharajpur and Sonepur in Sonepur district.
The Bolangir Lok Sabha seat has 17,13,996 voters. Of them, 8,86,899 voters are female.
PNN