Bhubaneswar: Balangir Lok Sabha seat, which is set to witness a 3-cornered contest in the upcoming polls in Odisha, has all the ingredients – royalty, a turncoat, and a star- of a ‘masala’ Bollywood hit.
While four-time MP Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo will be fighting to retain the seat for BJP, three-time former Congress MLA Surendra Singh Bhoi seems eager to blow the conch of victory for BJD. Congress, on the other hand, has unleashed star power by fielding popular actor Manoj Mishra from the parliamentary constituency.
The charm and influence of erstwhile royal family of Singh Deos have remained undiminished in Balangir with Sangeeta winning the seat four times (1998, 1999, 2004 and 2019) for BJP and her brother-in-law Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo of BJD twice (2009 and 2014) in the last six elections. Kalikesh, however, failed to earn a renomination from the regional party, which instead picked Bhoi, five days after he snapped his 38-year-old ties with Congress, as the MP candidate. Kalikesh will instead contest from Balangir Assembly seat on BJD ticket.
In 2019 elections, Sangeeta defeated Kalikesh by around 20,000 votes. The BJP also improved its vote share by 8.2%. The victory margin for BJD in 2014, however, was over 1 lakh. By fielding Bhoi, the ruling BJD hopes to wrest the seat back from the BJP by making a dent in Congress’ vote share.
Bhoi lost the last two elections from Titlagarh Assembly seat to BJD’s Tukuni Sahu.
Seemingly aware of her small victory margin, Sangeeta is trying to woo the voters on the basis of ‘Modi’s guarantee’ and the work she undertook in the constituency in the last 5 years.
The Congress has put its bet on Manoj, who is best known for his work in the Hindi, Odia and Tamil film industries. The political greenhorn has entered the poll fray, raising different issues including labour migration problem prevalent in western Odisha. In recent months, he attempted to strike a regional sentiment by stoking a controversy over Ollywood’s alleged attitude towards western Odisha. With Samarendra Mishra, son of veteran leader Narasingha Mishra, contesting to retain his father’s Balangir Assembly seat this time, the grand old party is hopeful to creating a disruption in 2024.
Narasingha, who announced retirement from electoral politics earlier, has been wining from the Assembly segment for the last two elections.
However, the goings will not be easy for the Congress, which has been witnessing an exodus of leaders, amid speculation about the future plans of Kantbanjhi MLA Santosh Singh Saluja.
Balangir Lok Sabha Constituency includes Birmaharajpur, Sonepur, Loisingha, Patnagarh, Balangir, Titlagarh and Kantbanjhi assembly seats. The BJD has MLAs in Birmaharajpur, Sonepur, Patnagarh and Titlagarh and Congress in Balangir and Kantbanjhi while BJP only in Loisingha.
