Repeat Of 2019: Mahendra Naik Deserts Congress Ahead Of Jharsuguda Bypoll In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: In big jolt to Congress ahead of Jharsuguda bypoll, its 2019 MLA candidate from the assembly constituency Mahendra Naik joined Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday.

He was formally inducted into the ruling party in presence of BJD Rajya Sabha Member Manas Mangaraj during a special programme ‘Mishran Parva’ at the BJD party office here.

Naik had finished third in 2019 Assembly elections after BJD’s Naba Kishore Das and Dinesh Kumar Jain of BJP. The party, however, ignored him for the bypoll and instead fielded Tarun Pandey, son of the late Biren Pandey, who was a former Jharsuguda MLA and was elected to the Odisha Assembly three times on a Congress ticket in 1980, 1985, and 1995.

His desertion ahead of the bypoll will severely dent the vote bank of Congress, which is struggling to stay relevant in Odisha politics, since he belongs to the Gond community which constitutes a good share of the total votes, sources said.

Ironically for the Congress, it was a repeat of 2019 when it had lost a stalwart in Jharsuguda politics to BJD. Congress Working President and Jharsuguda MLA Naba Kishore Das had joined BJD ahead of the Assembly polls and won the elections for the regional party.

However, the seat fell vacant after he was shot dead by a policeman on January 29. The bypoll is slated for May 10.