Odisha Elections 2024: Which Majhi’s Magic Will Work In Nabarangpur?

Nabarangpur/Bhubaneswar: In a fast-changing political scenario, can BJD candidate Pradeep Majhi blow the conch loud again from Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat in Odisha?

Even as nominees of BJD, BJP and Congress have gone full throttle with campaigning, this parliamentary constituency is most likely to witness a direct fight between the ruling party and the main opposition in the state. Both Pradeep and BJP’s Balabhadra Majhi are former MPs having won the seat once but under party symbols different from the ones that they are contesting the upcoming elections.

Bhujabal Majhi, a veteran of many an electoral battle and three-time MLA from Dabugam, is the Congress candidate.

CAN MODI GUARANTEE WORK MAGIC?

Exuding confidence in his party, Narendra Modi posted in X after his ‘Vijay Sankalp Yatra’ rally in Nabarangpur that he went there not to seek votes for BJP but to invite people for the oath-taking ceremony of a BJP CM in Odisha in June. “Odisha has given many years to BJD and Congress, yet aspirations of the people are unfulfilled. Odisha is looking to the BJP with hope.”

He also asserted that the BJP CM will be the son or daughter of the state and not any outsider.

Modi also gave the example of neighbouring Chhattisgarh which he said is making steady progress under BJP’s ‘double-engine’ government and where farmers are growing three crops in a year. While blaming BJD for having failed the state despite availability of plenty of water, fertile land, mineral resources and a vast sea coast, he promised to make Odisha the number 1 state in the country in the next five years. “Eithi paien mo biswas, Odisha ra vikash nichaya haba (I believe development will surely take place in Odisha).”

With the Odisha BJP banking on ‘Modi appeal’ to pull through, party insiders feel the PM’s persuasive rhetoric can swing votes in favour of Balabhadra. Though he finished third in 2019, he polled around 50,000 less than BJD’s Ramesh Majhi and only 8,000 behind Pradeep, who was then with Congress. Balabhadra had won the seat in 2014 on BJD ticket.

Nabarangpur holds significance for the BJP since its candidate Parsuram Majhi was elected twice from the seat in 1999 and 2004 when it was in an alliance with the BJD.

GUARDING ITS FORTRESS

The BJD has attempted to buck anti-incumbency by dropping its sitting MP Ramesh Chandra Majhi, who has instead been fielded from Jharigam Assembly constituency, and nominating Pradeep to make a dent in the vote share of Congress with which he started his political innings.

Pradeep was the Congress MP from the seat in 2009. But in the subsequent two elections in 2014 and 2019, he narrowly missed the victory line and finished second behind BJD candidates Balabhadra and then Ramesh.

In a scathing attack on BJP during his Nabarangpur rally, Chief Minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik accused the saffron brigade of shedding “crocodile tears” for the poor by telling lies and asked it to stop misleading the people. He also warned them against indulging in politics over issues of the poor like the PMAY. “Though the state government secured a prize from the central government for completing five lakh houses under Prime Minister Awas Yojana (Gramin) per year, the BJP MPs with political motives exerted pressure and stopped the scheme. This deprived ten lakh people of houses.”

V K Pandian, the other star campaigner of the regional party, and Pradeep also came down heavily on BJP leaders and accused them of opposing several welfare schemes and also Srimandir Parikrama Prakalpa in Puri in an attempt to deflate the saffron party’s ‘Odia Asmita bubble’.

Will this vigorous campaigning by the BJD leadership help the party retain the seat, which it has been winning for last two terms?

Pradeep is also eyeing a second victory from the seat on the BJD’s development plank by making a dent on Congress’ traditional support base. But whether he has the support of Ramesh continues to be a riddle.

REBELS’ TROUBLE & STRENGTH IN ASSEMBLY SEGMENTS

Discontent and resentment has been brewing in BJD, BJP and Congress in the aftermath of ticket distribution and the rebels can spoil the poll arithmetic of all three parties in the upcoming elections. In 2019, BJD won five of the seven Assembly seats under Nabarangpur parliamentary constituency with two – Umerkote and Malkangiri- going to the BJP’s kitty.

While the BJP has repeated Nityananda Gond from Umerkote, it has given ticket to Narsingh Madkami this time instead of Malkangiri’s sitting MLA Aditya Madhi, citing health grounds.

The BJD, which is battling anti-incumbency, has changed candidates in four of the five seats, repeating only sitting MLA Manohar Randhari from Dabugam. The decision to nominate Koraput special development council (SDC) chairman Chandra Sekhar Majhi for Kotpad constituency by denying ticket to sitting MLA Padmini Dian has generated mixed reaction from the Assembly segment as many feel that his long association with Congress may work against him. While Chandra won the seat in 2014, his elder brother Basudev Majhi, a veteran Congress leader of Kotpad, was elected from the Assembly constituency in 1974, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1995, 2000, 2004 and 2009 elections.

Similarly, the nomination of Laxmi Priya Nayak, niece of sitting Chitrakonda MLA Purna Chandra Baka, met with opposition from a section of ruling party leaders.

Playing the women card again, the regional party has replaced sitting MLA Sadasiba Pradhani with his wife Kaushalya in Nabarangpur. It has shifted sitting Nabarangpur MP Ramesh to Jharigam, the seat which the Majhi brothers have been winning for the last three terms, to tame possible rebellion.

To wrest Umerkote back from BJP, the BJD has fielded Nabina Nayak, wife of Subash Gond, a former MLA who lost to Nityananda in 2019 elections. In Malkangiri, it has Manas Madkami, who won the seat in 2014, back in the poll fray.

WHO WILL BENGALI SETTLERS VOTE FOR?

There are more than 15 lakh voters in Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat and among them, around 2 lakh are Bengali settlers (largely scheduled caste people). They reside in 214 villages of Malkangiri district and 64 villages in Nabarangpur. Support of Bengali voters is very important for any tribal candidate aspiring to win the seat.

Traditionally, BJP has enjoyed the backing of Bengali community, but the dynamics have changed due to BJD’s proactive stance in addressing their concerns since 2022. The regional party had bagged 12 out of 15 zilla parishad seats in 2022 rural polls as against one in 2017.

Nabarangur voters have given an opportunity to Congress, BJD and BJP to represent the constituency more than once. Will the party-hoppers manage to gain the voters’ trust again while contesting under different symbols? Will it be a battle over issues or personality? Will the voting be solely for the parties and their leadership or candidates will play a part in it?