Bhubaneswar: As parties remained busy giving finishing touches to their final lists of candidates based on internal inputs and in-house surveys, leaders sensing denial of tickets started jumping into other parties. The trend was noticeable in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJD has at least two aspirants in every constituency while the saffron party seemed running short of strong faces in many assembly segments, especially in coastal and south Odisha, to take on the regional party.
The BJD leaders, who are not likely to get party tickets, are jumping into the BJP which seemed on a stronger footing this time around than it was during last polls, a political analyst said.
The BJD is also looking to poach leaders from opposition parties in areas where it feels weak. The trend will continue till all three major parties—BJD, Congress and BJP have announced their candidates’ lists.
Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Hemananda Biswal’s daughter Sunita Biswal, BJP’s MLA candidate from Nilagairi Sushama Biswal, Congress’s Pradeep Disari and BJP leader from Khurda Jitu Mitra have joined the ruling party The BJD looked sure to rope in Rourkela MLA and former BJP leader Dillip Ray. The party is planning to project Ray for Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat if the industrialist joins the BJD.
At the same time, BJD leaders including sitting MP (Nabarangpur) Balabhadra Majhi, MLA (Nilagiri) Susant Nayak have resigned from the party and they may be on their way to the saffron party. Some more BJD leaders, who won’t t get tickets, may also quit the party in coming days.
The BJP is also trying hard to bring leaders from other parties into its fold. Many leaders including former bureaucrat Aparajita Sarangi have joined the party. Expelled BJD leaders—Baijayant Panda and Damodar Rout joined the BJP while many more are likely to join it soon, sources said. Recently, BJP’s state in-charge Arun Singh claimed many BJD leaders were in touch with the BJP and are keen to join his party. Speculations are rife that many senior leaders of BJD and Congress may hop onto the BJP bandwagon. Salipur MLA and Congress leader Prakash Behera may join the BJP soon.
Former MLA Jagneswar Babu and former minister Panchanan Kanungo have joined the Congress. However, not a single tall leader from other parties has joined the Congress yet, maybe due to the weak leadership of the Congress’s state unit president Niranjan Patnaik.
Nilgiri MLA quits BJD
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA from Nilgiri, Sukanta Nayak, Friday resigned from the primary membership of the party by writing a letter to party chief Naveen Patnaik. In his letter, he expressed displeasure about the way the party functioned and cited harassment and conspiracies against him by BJD leaders. “A conspiracy has been hatched which has been exhibited during the joining ceremony of a person ignoring me who had been defeated during the last 2014 elections by a margin of 13,000 votes. To add to my disadvantages, the mental torture meted out to me by the BJD’s district president became unbearable day by day,” Nayak said in the letter. This hits me a lot for which I am tendering my resignation from the primary membership which may kindly be accepted, he said. A few days ago, BJP candidate (2014) Sushama Biswal had joined the BJD. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is planning to project Biswal for the Nilagiri Assembly seat.