Odisha Elections 2024: Prestige Battle For Dharmendra Pradhan, Pranab Prakash Das In Sambalpur

Sambalpur: All eyes are on Sambalpur parliamentary seat, which will go to polls on May 25, with two heavyweights – Union Minister and senior BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan and BJD organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das – set for a showdown, focusing on farmers, weavers, and various government schemes.

Entry of former Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan, who quit the ruling party in the state and joined the Congress a few days before filing his nominations, has only heated up the contest.

Dharmendra Vs Pranab
Sambalpur Lok Sabha is emblematic of the larger battle for power in Odisha with two formidable opponents attempting to change the narrative on the ground. The ruling BJD has taken a dare by fielding Pranab, a three-time Jajpur MLA, from Sambalpur, an epicentre of western Odisha politics with a strong bias towards the coastal region of the state. The BJD leader, however, has demonstrated his skills on several occasions in organising and managing elections.

Dharmendra, who is a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar, is contesting a direct election after a gap of 15 years. He had last unsuccessfully contested assembly elections from Pallahara assembly segment in 2009. Unlike Pranab, the Union Minister does not carry the outsider baggage having been elected once from the erstwhile Deogarh Lok Sabha seat in 2004.

So, this time, the fight is intense and Sambalpur results will determine the political future of both Dharmendra and Pranab.

Who Will Benefit From Nagendra’s Entry?

Congress initially nominated Dulal Pradhan in Sambalpur but later replaced him with Nagendra, changing the political dynamics in the constituency. The former Athamallik MLA can spilt the BJD votes, having won the Sambalpur seat in 2014 as the regional party’s candidate.

Meanwhile aggrieved by the Congress’s decision, Dulal switched sides to BJP. And it is the saffron party which is likely to benefit from both these developments.

Exodus Headache For BJD

Several senior and disgruntled BJD leaders of the region resigned from the party in recent past, complaining over ticket distribution. Former MLA and spokesperson of BJD Dr Raseswari Panigrahi called it quits over Rairakhol legislator Rohit Pujari’s nomination from Sambalpur Assembly seat. At least 41 other functionaries of different wings of the party, all hardcore supporters of the former MLA, also followed suit.

Raseswari, a noted gynaecologist, is the sister of former MP Sriballav Panigrahi, who also represented Sambalpur assembly seat and was a minister. The family has a support base in the region.

In Rengali, the party faced a similar predicament with prominent leaders like Motilal Tanty and Reena Tanty switching sides to BJP and Dilip Duria joining the Congress. Duria, former state secretary of BJD, contesting as Congress candidate from Rengali can impact BJD’s bottomline.

The ruling party also put itself in an awkward situation in Deogarh by replacing Arundhati Devi, member of the royal family and wife of sitting BJP MP Nitish Ganga Deb, with Romancha Ranjan Biswal, who lost the last election to BJP’s Subash Panigrahy. Arundhati was given a ticket a day after joining the BJD with much fanfare. She, however, was replaced in what appeared to be a change in the BJD’s strategy for Sambalpur as her nomination had led to infighting in the regional party which made it difficult for Pranab to penetrate Deogarh, a stronghold of Dharmendra and Panigrahi.

In Athamallik Assembly seat, sitting MLA, Ramesh Chandra Sai joined the BJP when the ruling party did not renominate him despite his victory by a huge margin of 47,184 votes in 2019. The BJD has fielded bureaucrat-turned-politician Nalini Kanta Pradhan, who had lost the last elections to Nitish Ganga Deb in Sambalpur, from the Assembly seat. His move, along with others, may impact the upcoming polls in multiple seats.

Former minister and four-time MLA Sanjeeb Kumar Sahoo has only added to its woes by entering the poll fray from Athamallik as the BJP candidate. He had won the seat in 2009 and 2014 on BJD ticket.

In Rairakhol too, Rohit Pujari’s supporters may not support Prasanna Acharya, whom the party initially fielded from Sambalpur and later swapped candidates in both seats.

The BJD has repeated sitting MLA Susanta Kumar Behera in Chhendipada, while former Congress MLA Rajendra Kumar Chhatria, who joined the party recently, is its candidate from Kuchinda, replacing the outgoing MLA Kishore Chandra Naik.

Who Will The Loss Impact More?

Dharmendra, a resident of Talcher town in Angul district and son of former Union Minister Debendra Pradhan, has been a central minister since 2014 and is banking on the initiatives of the Centre to register a victory. However, a loss can cost him dearly as it would lessen his influence in the state as well as the Centre. It will also be difficult for him to earn a renomination to Rajya Sabha.

Pranab, son of former Janata Dal state president Ashok Dash, is counting on the love people have for Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the BJD governments’ schemes for farmers, weavers, students, youths and women. In case of a defeat, he can enter the state politics again by contesting from Korei, from where the regional party has fielded his mother Sandhyarani in a purported backup plan for him.

Sambalpur parliamentary constituency was represented by the BJD during its alliance with BJP three times in a row in 1998, 1999 and 2004. In 2009, 2014 and 2019, however, voters of the constituency elected Congress, BJD and BJP candidates respectively. While BJD won four Assembly seats under this parliamentary constituency in 2019, BJP got three. The saffron party has repeated its incumbent MLAs – Nauri Nayak, Jaynarayan Mishra and Panigrahi in Rengali, Sambalpur and Deogarh, repectively.

Will Dharmendra be able to prove his mettle as a mass leader too? Or, will Pranab spring a surprise just like his nomination by wresting the seat from BJP?