Joda: All political parties have launched hectic preparations to win the Champua Assembly segment with only a few months left for the 2024 general elections, a report said Thursday. The ruling BJD and opposition BJP have already started conducting meetings and rallies while the grand old party Congress is lagging behind in preparations for the 2024 polls.
Political observers predicted that under the given circumstances the fight to represent the constituency will be mainly between the ruling BJD and opposition BJP with Congress missing from the scene. The past elections were mainly fought on pension, allowances, and attractive promises but Champua has not witnessed much development on the expected line, political observers said. This has disappointed the youths in particular, who have probably made up their mind not to fall for money offerings. What may decide the outcome of the polls is that they are in search of a candidate who is talented and carries a clean image as their elected MLA. Reports said that Champua Assembly segment in Keonjhar district was earlier reserved for the Scheduled Tribe (ST).
However, the political scene in the constituency went through a change after the Assembly seat was de-reserved for the candidates from the general category. The Assembly seat has always been in the news due to the muscle flexing between the leaders of all categories from various political parties. Jitu Patnaik won from this constituency in 2009, Sanatan Mahakur in 2014 as an independent, and Minakshi Mohanta won on a BJD ticket in 2019 by defeating BJP’s Murali Sharma. Ex-MLA Sanatan Mahakur during his tenure distributed allowances to the voters for some years and later closed it down. Mahakur, who was a miner, tried to keep people in a good mood by distributing allowances. However, the voters in the constituency were left disillusioned with allowances after the shrink in employment resulting from closure of mines in the area. Mahakur lost the trust of the people after he stopped the distribution of allowances.
Later, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a probe against him. Politics is expected to undergo massive change here as the constituency has failed to witness the kind of development that is befitting to it. As a result, youths have become disillusioned with money offers and started demanding for development of the constituency before the leaders of various political parties. They are now looking for a young, talented candidate with a clean image whom they can rely upon as their representative in the state Assembly.
In this situation, people are getting increasingly drawn towards the ruling party due to frequent visits of its leaders and the 5T secretary to the constituency and promising them to implement the development agenda of the Chief Minister. Work on the Kanpur mega irrigation project nearing completion, completion of the Joda flyover, the start of construction of the Barbil by-pass road, the up-gradation of Joda and Champua hospitals, and the launch of development programmes in tourist sites of the district are also drawing people to the ruling party.
However, despite the ruling party enjoying good support of people, winning from the constituency will not be a cakewalk for the party as it will have to fight it out with BJP. Saffron party leaders are also touring the area and strengthening the organisation through meetings and demonstrations. The Champua Assembly segment was earlier a stronghold of the grand old party but it has fallen into pieces due to internal squabble plaguing the Congress party.
Some aspirants have been lobbying for the party ticket with hopes that they can win the election with money and power. However, the Congress party is way behind the BJD and BJP and is nowhere in the race, a retired teacher Somanath Mohanty said. BJD youth leader Susant Barik said that his party will fight the election on the development plank as people want development in various sectors which will be reflected in the 2024 elections. Radha Mohanta, vice-president, of state BJP Krushak Morcha said that doling out allowances will no more work in favor of any candidate as the voters have become aware. The fight will be mainly between the candidate of his party and that of BJD, he said. Joda BJP leader Susant Bebarta said that the fight will be mainly between his party and the BJD and his party will leave no stone unturned to win
