Bhubaneswar: At least 12 candidates, who are the kin of former chief ministers of Odisha, have jumped into the electoral battle in the Lok Sabha (LS) and Assembly elections.
The former chief ministers whose family members/relatives are in the fray are: Harekrushna Mahatab, Biju Patnaik, RN Singh Deo, Nilamani Routray, JB Pattnaik, Giridhar Gamang and Hemananda Biswal. Of these, only Giridhar Gamang and Hemananda Biswal are active in Odisha politics and others are no longer alive.
While Gamang had switched his loyalty to BJP, Biswal continued to remain with the Congress and is presently heading the disciplinary committee of Odisha Congress.
Biswal and Giridhar Gamang who were defeated in the 2014 LS elections have opted out this time, allowing their daughter and son respectively to contest the polls.
Biswal (Cong), who was defeated in the Sundargarh LS seat at the hands of BJP candidate Jual Oram in 2014, has decided not to contest after his two daughters entered the electoral battle
His elder daughter Sunita Biswal quit Congress and joined the ruling BJD just prior to the issue of notification of election schedule, and is pitted against Union Minister Jual Oram in Sundargarh (ST) LS seat.
On the other hand, younger daughter Amita Biswal is in the fray as Congress candidate for the Sundargarh Assembly seat. Both the sisters are first timers in electoral politics.
Former chief minister Giridhar Gamang, who had the distinction of winning the Koraput LS seat eight times in a row, has never encouraged his son to join active politics.
Though Gamang, now in BJP, and his wife Hema Gamango, who had won both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the past, opted out, they have allowed their son Sishir Gamang to contest the Gunupur (ST) Assembly seat as a BJP candidate.
BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had entered the electoral politics only after the demise of Biju Patnaik as a candidate for by-election in Aska LS constituency in 1997 following the death of his father who had held the seat.
He vacated the Aska LS seat in 2000 and entered the state Assembly by winning the Hinjili seat to become the Chief Minister of BJD-BJP coalition government in Odisha.
Since then he has won the Hinjili seat four times in a row and set a record in the electoral history of Odisha. It’s also a record for him to hold the Chief Minister’s post for such a long time.
Naveen, this time, is contesting the Assembly elections from Hinjili as well as Bijepur seats in Western Odisha and is set to create another record if his party is voted to power.
Bhartruhari Mahtab, son of late Harekrushna Mahatab, is seeking re-election from the Cuttack LS seat which he had won consecutively in 1998 and 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 parliament elections.
Former chief minister Nandini Satpathy whose son Tathagata Satpathy (BJD) had already scored a hat-trick in Dhenkanal Lok Sabha constituency winning in 2004, 2009 and 2014 elections, is not in the fray as he has decided to stay away from active politics.
Similarly, State Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray (BJD), son of former chief minister Nilamani Routray, has volunteered not to contest. But he allowed his son Bishnubrata Routray to fight for Basudevpur Assembly seat held by him as a BJD candidate since 1990.
Similarly, another senior BJD leader and former minister AU Singh Deo, son of former chief minister RN Singh Deo, had also decided not to enter the fray.
However, his two sons – Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo and Arkesh Singh Deo – are contesting the Bolangir LS and Bolangir Assembly seats respectively as BJD candidates.
For Arkesh, it will be his first electoral battle, while his elder brother Kalikesh had already won the Bolangir LS seat twice in 2009 and 2014. He is trying his luck to score a hat-trick this time.
The case of BJD Rajya Sabha MP Soumya Ranjan Pattnaik, son-in- law of former chief minister JB Pattnaik, is altogether different.
He had initially joined the BJP when his father was active in Congress politics but later he shifted his loyalty and joined Congress under the leadership of his father-in-law and won the 1996 Lok Sabha election from Bhubaneswar seat.
However, he could not retain his seat in 1998 LS elections and got defeated at the hands of BJD candidate Prasanna Patsani.
Soumya Ranjan, who went into hibernation after the defeat in 1998 polls, suddenly became very active in Congress politics when his father-in-law was appointed as the Odisha chief of the party to lead the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
Soumya Ranjan had been nominated again for the Bhubaneswar LS seat where he was pitted against his arch rival Prasanna Patsani of BJD and got defeated.
In 2009, Soumya Ranjan tried his luck from Khandapara Assembly seat as Congress candidate but was defeated by BJD candidate. In the subsequent election in 2014, he again unsuccessfully contested the seat on Ama Odisha, a regional party floated by him.
A strong critic of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Soumya Ranjan, however, joined the BJD and was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the party last year.
However, Soumya Ranjan preferred to be active in state politics and managed to convince the BJD supremo to contest the Khandapara Assembly seat, denying the party ticket to sitting MLA Anubhab Patnaik who had defeated him in 2009 Assembly election.
BJP legislature party leader KV Singh Deo and wife Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, the royal family members of Bolangir, are also related to former chief minister RN Singh Deo.
While KV Singh Deo is seeking re-election from Patnagarh Assembly seat, his wife Sangeeta Singh Deo had won the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat in 1998, 1999 and 2004.
She will try her luck from the seat this time after two successive defeats at the hands of her brother-in-law Kalikesh Singh Deo of BJD in 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee chief Niranjan Patnaik is the elder brother of Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, the son-in-law of former chief minister JB Patnaik.
A former minister, Niranjan Patnaik, spearheading the Congress electioneering in the state, is contesting both Ghasipura and Bhandaripokhari Assembly seats this time.
Out of 12 kin of former chief ministers, as many as seven are contesting from the ruling BJD, three from the BJP and two from the Congress party.
