Kendrapara: The Mahakalapada Assembly seat, which was carved out in 2009 after delimitation, has become a BJD bastion with its nominee Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak winning twice from here. This time also he is in the race hoping for a hat-trick.
Atanu won the 2009 Assembly polls defeating Congress candidate Balaram Parida by 19,392 votes.
The BJP candidate, Bijoy Mohapatra, lost to Atanu by a substantial margin of 23,315 votes. While Atanu bagged 80,948 votes his rival Bijoy got only 57,633 votes in 2014.
Now, the million dollar question is whether Atanu can repeat his victory, or whether the seat would go to the BJP or the Congress.
The sitting MLA is trying to win a third time by encashing the clean image of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and by highlighting development projects and social security schemes like KALIA, Peetha and Mission Shakti, which empowers women.
Political observers, however, say that the popularity of Atanu in Mahakalapada has taken a big hit due to the corruption of his supporters.
Many projects were executed in a substandard manner here. The law and order situation has hit the nadir in Mahakalapada and babus have been dancing to the tunes of Atanu.
But Atanu is still hopeful that he can win again in Mahakalapada as his arch rival Bijoy Mohapatra has quit the BJP.
He thinks this time it would be a cakewalk for him as all the hopefuls from the opposition are greenhorns who do not have a strong base in Mahakalapada.
Bhuban Mohan Jena is one of the strong contenders for the BJP ticket in Mahakalapada.
Jena is an educationalist and is also a close confidant of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He is most likely to lock horns with Atanu here.
Jena has started his campaign focusing on the shortcomings and corruption of the BJD government and the local BJD MLA. He also expects the Modi wave to help him here.
Jena also expects the new BJP entrant, Baijayant Panda, who is a rival of Atanu to help him win.
The Congress is planning to field greenhorn Bibhranshu Lenka. OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik started his poll campaign from Mahakalapada’s Ramchandi temple grounds asking the people to ensure the victory of the Congress.
Meanwhile, Jnandev Beura, who was a former BJP leader and was defeated in Rajnagar Assembly constituency last time, is another hopeful from the Congress. He joined the Congress at a meeting organised in Jeypore in which AICC president Rahul Gandhi participated.
One cannot rule out Bijoy Mohapatra this time. Although his fate is hanging in the balance after he quit the BJP, he has not yet joined any party. He can be the game-changer here this time as he enjoys the support of around 20,000 voters.
If Bijoy joins the BJD it would be a cakewalk for the party. There is every possibility that if Bijoy strikes a deal with the BJD then Atanu would be shifted to Patkura Assembly seat.
It is also possible that Bijoy may leave Mahakalapada and contest from his home turf Patkura to the Assembly on a BJD ticket. But it is too early to speculate as Bijoy has not joined the BJD, political observers said.
If Bijoy returns to the BJP then it would be difficult for BJD candidate Atanu to win. Baijayant Panda, Bijoy Mohapatra and the BJP would jointly take on Atanu and that can lead to his defeat.
So everything depends on Bijoy. The state is waiting anxiously to know which party he is going to join. The political scenario in Mahakalapada depends on the decision of Bijoy.
PNN
