Bolangir: Two members of the Bolangir royal family are contesting against each other in the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat.
All the three major political parties of the state, the ruling BJD, the BJP and the Congress have announced the names of their candidates for Bolangir Parliamentary constituency.
The BJD has once again fielded its two-time MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo here.
The BJP has picked its three-time MP Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo although she lost the last two elections to Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo. Interestingly, both are in-laws and belong to the Bolangir royal family.
The Congress has given its ticket to a new, young face, Samarendra Mishra. All the three candidates of the major political parties belong to two leading families of Bolangir.
Samarendra Mishra happens to be the son of veteran Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition, Narasingha Mishra.
The two members of the Bolangir royal family are going to fight each other from the Bolangir LS seat for the third time. They had faced each other in the 2009 and 2014 general elections from their respective parties.
In these two Parliamentary elections, BJD candidate Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo had defeated his sister-in-law Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo of the BJP with a massive margin.
The 2019 Parliamentary election is significant for Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo as she will be contesting for the sixth time as a BJP candidate.
Sangeeta had defeated her nearest rival Sarat Patnaik of the Congress in 1998, 1999 and 2004. After the breakup of the alliance with the BJD she is now contesting against Kalikesh.
Kalikesh is hopeful of winning the confidence of the voters as the BJD government has implemented a host of development projects here.
Sangeeta is hoping to encash the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress which has not won from here since 1996 is hoping to exploit the fight between the BJP and the BJD. “I will surely win in Bolangir Parliamentary constituency,” Congress candidate Samarendra Mishra asserted.
The electoral battle here in Bolangir is definitely going to be very interesting and who the winner would be remains to be seen.
PNN
