Bhubaneswar: The political battle to win the General Election 2024 has begun and Odisha will join the epic contest in four phases starting May 13, 2024. The Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency is among the 21 in the state where voting will take place in the coming days. The prestigious Capital City LS seat will witness a triangular contest this time with the BJP, BJD and Congress announcing their candidates.
While the BJP has repeated the candidature of bureaucrat-turned politician and current MP Aparajita Sarangi, the BJD has fielded Manmath Routray, a commercial pilot and son of six-time Congress MLA Suresh Routray. Youth Congress leader Yasir Nawaz is the Congress party’s nominee. All the three candidates are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters as they hit the campaign trail. Although Aparajita won last time by defeating BJD candidate Arup Patnaik, retired IPS officer and former Mumbai police commissioner, by a margin of 23,829 votes, the going appears to be tough this time for her as she faces Manmath who comes from a strong political family background.
Nevertheless, the presence of Yasir in the fray – the Congress didn’t field candidate in 2019 – has made the situation fluid. Orissa POST tried to gauge the ground realities about the prospects of each candidate and their chances to win the hustle by talking to a cross-section of City residents, and also their expectations from the MP candidates. Political analyst Sudarshan Chhotoray said Aparajita has morphed into a seasoned politician, backed by well nurtured grassroots support base created during the last five years.
Moreover, she also has the backing of the BJP central leadership, he said. Manmath, though a political novice, has a strong political family background. “His father is a sitting Congress MLA from City’s outskirts and has a massive following both in the City and adjoining villages under Jatni, Khurda, Ekamra and Bhubaneswar North Assembly constituencies,” he said.
On the other hand, relatively younger and energetic Congress candidate Yasir Nawaz is seen as the future of Congress party. “Yashir’s support base extends from minorities to traditional Congress vote bank, and people with secular credentials,” Chhotoray said, adding, “Despite all factors, Manmath seems to have an edge over Aparajita as Bhubaneswar is a BJD stronghold.” During 2019 elections, BJD had won six Assembly segments out of seven and the lone Jatni seat had gone in favour of Manmath’s father Sura Routray (INC). He said the people of Bhubaneswar have a lot of expectations from the MP, such as expansion of the Smart City project, improvement of City’s water and sanitation facilities, further development of the Bhubaneswar airport and its connectivity with all state capitals as well as international destinations, modernisation of the Bhubaneswar railway station, et al.
Urban planner and Bhubaneswar resident Piyush Ranjan Rout said, “Whatever developmental work has been carried out in Bhubaneswar City, or the parliamentary constituency, so far, has been done without Central assistance. That also includes the Bhubaneswar Metro. People have experienced the benefits of hosting the Hockey World Cup, Drink from Tap 24/7 water supply or Mo Bus service.” He said what people of the City expected from its MP was her presence in the constituency, and raising her voice in the Parliament over issues facing the state Capital. She should have prevailed upon the Union government for a slew of mega projects like a Ring Road around Bhubaneswar, pushing for World Heritage City status to Bhubaneswar, restoration of Gangabati river, restoration of Daya west canal, Bindusagar rejuvenation, Bhubaneswar Metro Rail and Biju Patnaik International Airport getting national importance with better connectivity with South East Asia. “She cared little to address important issues like climate change impacts on Bhubaneswar and restoration of ecology,” he added.
Social activist Basudev Bhatt said Aparajita as a Collector and BMC commissioner had done good works which helped her in winning the 2019 election. “But in the last five years, she failed to implement schemes in different sectors like education, migration, or bring about any improvement in infrastructure, such as road and bridges construction. “The problem is that Aparajita didn’t portray a good image of herself by continuously clashing with the state government rather than working with it for the betterment of the City,” he said, adding that she may not get support from party MLA candidates for her ‘favouritism’. Bhubaneswar resident Saroj Barik said sanitation in and around the City is still an issue.
ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
