Kamakhyanagar: The trouble for the opposition BJP and Congress in Dhenkanal district seems to be never-ending as both the parties failed to choose candidates in many of the wards of Kamakhyanagar NAC on the last day of filing of nominations, Monday.
The Congress party had won four wards of Kamakhyanagar NAC and became the second largest party after BJD in the last civic body polls.
However, this time as a face saving act the party managed to give candidates only in four out of 15 wards of the civic body with the rest of the ward going unrepresented.
Similarly, BJP managed to field candidates in only 11 wards of the civic body leaving aside the remaining four wards unrepresented.
This has sent the chatters abuzz in the area which is indicative of the rot that is plaguing the two parties in the area.
Kamakhyanagar NAC is termed as another power corridor in Dhenkanal district where the election to the civic body is going to be held after eight long years.
The announcement of the polls made all to sit up and keep a watch on the selection of candidates.
However, the picture that emerged on the last day of filing of nominations was quite disappointing for a healthy democracy and triggered a debate in the political circles.
Political observers said the two main opposition parties surrendering before the actual poll war has made the BJD candidates’ win all the more easier.
Prabhudatt Bhatt, district Congress vice-president, said, “Many of the party candidates withdrew nominations after being threatened by ruling party leaders. As a result, Congress party failed to field candidates in all the 15 wards of NAC.”
He said that such highhandedness and open threat is not healthy for democracy. Sandip Patnaik, BJP’s Nagar Mandal president, said many candidates withdrew their papers after they were bribed by the ruling party.
Aditya Acharya, BJD’s NAC unit president, said, “Both the parties failed to put up candidates in all 15 wards as they were sure of their defeat. They are making baseless allegations to save their face.”
Notably, Kamakhyanagar NAC has 13,371 voters. This time, more than 30 candidates have filed their nominations for the post of councillors.
BJD’s Dharmananda Parida, BJP’s Ranjit Sahu, Congress’s Santosh Maharana and an independent Abhimanyu Nayak will contest for chairman’s post.
PNN
