Bhubaneswar: The fourth and final phase of elections in Odisha scheduled for April 29 will be a litmus test for the ruling BJD as the party which had swept the 2014 polls winning 20 Lok Sabha seats and 117 Assembly seats, will now have to face a tough challenge from the BJP in the backdrop of a strong ‘Modi wave’.
All the six Lok Sabha seats going for polls Monday were held by the ruling BJD. The party had also captured 37 of the 41 Assembly seats going for polls while the Congress had bagged three seats and the BJP one seat.
All eyes are on the high profile Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, considered as the workplace of the late Biju Patnaik, a legendary leader in Odisha, where former BJD MP Baijayant Panda is seeking election as BJP candidate and pitted against actor turned politician and BJD Rajya Sabha MP Anubhav Mohanty.
The Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat has become a prestige issue for both the ruling BJD and the BJP as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has concentrated all his efforts to ensure the defeat of Panda who in turn had also left no stone unturned to give the Chief Minister a befitting reply to his high voltage campaign.
The fate of four ministers of Naveen Patnaik government including finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera, and over a dozen former ministers including OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik would be sealed in tomorrow’s ballots.
Almost all the six Lok Sabha seats and 41 Assembly seats will be witnessing a multi-cornered contest but the real battle would be mostly confined to the ruling BJD, the BJP and the Congress.
The BJD which had won all the six Lok Sabha seats in 2014 election would face a tough fight this time from the BJP candidates in the wake of a strong ‘Modi wave’ sweeping the state to retain all the six seats.
Electioneering in the fourth phase witnessed a high voltage campaign by the BJD led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and BJP spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and a host of Union ministers.
The Congress campaign picked up little momentum at the fag end of electioneering with the arrival of party president Rahul Gandhi, senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and actor turned politician Raj Babbar addressing election rallies in support of party candidates.
PM Modi and CM Patnaik were the star campaigners for the BJP and the BJD respectively and both did not mind to attack each other’s capability in winning the elections.
While Modi said the election in Odisha is a clear indication that the exit of Patnaik is certain and the BJP will form the government, the BJD supremo claimed that his party had already garnered the required seats in the last three-phase elections to form the government in the state for the fifth time in a row.
The BJD’s campaign centered around central negligence and the unfulfilled promises made by Modi during the 2014 elections.
The saffron party raked up the mining scam and chit fund scam accusing the Chief Minister of shielding the accused and called for a change of government promising an all-round development of the state.
On the other hand, the Congress is optimistic that the party’s recent victory in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will have a big impact on the Odisha voters upsetting the poll prospects of both the BJD and the BJP.
