Bhubaneswar: Political heat is soaring in Odisha’s Nuapada, where the stage is set for a three-cornered fight between the ruling BJP and Opposition BJD and Congress.
A day after a massive show of strength by BJP, the BJD on Sunday held a roadshow in Nuapada ahead of the nomination filing of party candidate Snehangini Chhuria for the upcoming Assembly by-election scheduled for November 11.
She was accompanied by senior leaders, including Pranab Prakash Das, Pratap Jena, Pramila Mallik, Tukuni Sahu, Lekhashree Samantsinghar and Barsa Singh Bariha, among others.
According to sources, the event witnessed a large turnout of supporters, reflecting the party’s determination to retain the seat, which fell vacant following the demise of its MLA Rajendra Dholakia on September 8.
Interestingly, Dholakia’s son Jay is the BJP nominee from the seat. While the defection came as a blow to the BJD, the party quickly regrouped and named former minister Chhuria, also from western Odisha, as its candidate to tap both regional sentiment and support of women voters, who were considered to be the key behind its electoral success in the past two decades.
BJD sources further stated that party president and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik is expected to hit the campaign trail for two days in the coming weeks, something he had avoided during bypolls in recent years, which indicate his intent to go for a direct clash with CM Mohan Majhi, who is leading the BJP charge, and Bhakta Charan Das, the state Congress chief.
While both the BJP and Congress have fielded locally influential candidates, the BJD is banking on its organisational network, welfare record, and Naveen’s campaign to maintain its dominance in the constituency. Already 52 senior BJD leaders have been assigned specific responsibilities across the two blocks and NACs of the constituency to ensure efficient ground-level coordination.
A victory here is also crucial to the party’s prospects in western Odisha, a region widely seen as a BJP stronghold, the sources added.
On Saturday, BJP candidate Jay Dholakia and Congress nominee Ghasiram Majhi filed their nomination papers for the by-election.
Jay, accompanied by state BJP president Manmohan Samal, Ministers Rabinarayan Naik and Ganesh R. Singhkhuntia, and a number of party MLAs, submitted his papers after an elaborate procession with thousands of party workers and supporters participating in a rally that stretched from Khariar Road to Nuapada collector’s office.
Kalahandi MP Malavika Devi, Rajya Sabha member Sujeet Kumar, MLAs Sudhir Pattjoshi, Laxman Bag, Tankadhar Tripathy and Ashwini Sarangi, along with district and block-level functionaries turned up at the rally in a massive show of strength for the party nominee, who was once a probable candidate of the BJD.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has already visited the western Odisha constituency to launch a high-decibel campaign at a well-attended Vijay Sankalp Samavesh near the airstrip ground. He had also unveiled a Rs 1100 crore development package for Nuapada district just hours before the bypoll schedule was announced on October 6.
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Ghasiram Majhi, an old hand with a support base of his own, has already begun his door-to-door campaign. In the 2024 polls, he got more than 50,000 votes as an Independent to finish second behind Dholakia. The then OPCC president Sarat Patnaik had then finished fourth.
The stakes are equally high for Congress as it is looking for a revival of fortunes, having been out of power in Odisha since 2000. It is hoping for Ghasiram’s 50,000 plus 15,000 party votes, which Sarat Patnaik got in 2024 elections, to do the trick and snatch victory for the party.