Kolabira: Voting will be held in the Jharsuguda Assembly constituency April 18 in the second phase of elections. Electioneering is at its peak all over the constituency.
Candidates are now going door to door to win voters. Nine candidates are contesting here including those of the three major political parties, the BJD, the BJP and the Congress. The Jharsuguda Assembly constituency belongs to the general category.
The BJD has fielded ex-MLA Naba Kishore Das. He had left the Congress and had joined the BJD a few days back.
The BJP’s nominee is Dinesh Jain who had contested earlier from the seat.
The Congress candidate is Mahendra Naik, who was an administrative officer at the Secretariat.
There is likely to be a stiff triangular fight between the BJD, BJP and the Congress here. In 2014, Naba Kishore Das was elected from here as a Congress candidate. Kishore Mohanty, who had contested on a BJD ticket, came second.
After Naba Kishore Das left the Congress and joined the BJD, there were speculations about who will be the BJD candidate from here. At last, the party picked Naba Kishore Das and fielded him here.
Giving his views, Naba Kishore Das said, “I have been working for the people of Jharsuguda Assembly constituency for many years and the people are with me. The clean image of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is my biggest asset. I am sure that I will emerge victorious this time.”
Naba Kishore Das had won from this seat consecutively two times as a Congress candidate, that is, in 2009 and 2014.
Dinesh Jain, who had contested from here as a BJP candidate and had come third in 2009, was also a claimant, but he was not given the BJP ticket in 2014. The BJP had fielded Ananda Pradhan as its candidate in Jharsuguda Assembly constituency then.
After losing the party ticket Dinesh Jain remained silent for a long time, but later accepted his party’s decision. He kept himself closely associated with party activities and worked hard to strengthen its organisation.
Dinesh is quite a popular figure in this constituency. After getting the BJP ticket he has been banking on the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the programmes of the Centre. He hopes that people will appreciate the good governance provided by the Modi Government.
Congress candidate Mahendra Naik has pinned hopes on students and youths. He also has the support of the Gond tribal community. Though new to active politics he has strong contacts with the public.
Political analysts say that the support of former Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader HemananNaba, Dinesh & Mahendra locked in triangular fightda Biswal for Mahendra might work in the latter’s favour.
“Both the BJD and the BJP governments are corrupt. The problems of farmers and unemployment have assumed alarming proportions. All these issues will be sorted out if the Congress comes to power,” Mahendra said.
PNN
