This southern Odisha town in Ganjam district, also known as the silk city of Odisha, will witness a battle between two turncoats in the Lok Sabha elections. The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has fielded Bhrugu Baxipatra, who till last week was vice president of the BJP Odisha unit, while the BJP has named Pradeep Panigrahy, who was expelled from the BJD, as its nominee for the Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency.
Mr. Panigrahpy, a three-time MLA from the Gopalpur Assembly constituency, was once a close aide of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and even looked after the Ganjam district affairs of the BJD, before being expelled from the party.
The Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency was once a strong citadel of the Congress and even Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao had won the Berhampur Lok Seat seat in the 1996 elections.
Ganjam district has been a BJD bastion since 2009. The district is also the home district to Mr. Patnaik's Assembly constituency, Hinjili. BJD has won 12 of the 13 Assembly seats in the district in 2019 elections.
Battle of the turncoats
The fight for the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat will be mainly between two turncoats Bhrugu Baxipatra of BJD and Pradeep Panigrahy of the BJP, though the Congress nominee is also in the fray. Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik is the Congress’ nominee for the constituency.
Mr. Panigrahy was expelled from the BJD for "anti-people activities" and was also arrested on alleged corruption cases by the Naveen Patnaik government.
The BJP candidate in his public meetings is telling the people 'Etha ra Leka Chhi Da e Deba' (This time will end the chapter). The Gopalpur MLA is asking the electorate to end their inclination towards Mr. Patnaik, who he accused of running the government through outsourcing manner.
Mr. Panigarhy is also trying to invoke Ganjam sentiment among the people as his rival Baxipatra's activities were mostly confined to the neighbouring Rayagada district before moving to Ganjam in 2019.
To defeat Mr. Panigrahy, BJD has picked up Mr. Baxipatra, the BJP’s former Berhampur nominee, to win over some of the BJP’s voters.
Both parties are fighting hard to win the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat, which is considered the gateway to southern Odisha.
‘A vote for Naveen Patnaik’
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's close aide and BJD leader V.K. Pandian in a meeting in Bhubaneswar on April 7 appealed to people to vote for the Conch symbol of the regional party. "Please do not see who is a candidate. The Chief Minister is contesting in all the 147 assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies," Mr. Pandian said.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections BJD candidate Chandrasekhar Sahu had won the Berhampur Lok Sabha by 94,000 votes defeating his BJP opponent Bhrugu Baxipatra.
Apart from voters, the party workers of both the political parties at the grassroots level also seem to be confused. "We have to campaign for the candidate whom we had strongly opposed last time (2019 LS election)," said a BJD worker from Ganjam district.
The seven Assembly constituencies under the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat are - Chhatrapur, Gopalpur, Berhampur, Digapandi and Chikita in Ganjam district and Mohana and Parlakhemundi in neighbouring Gajapati district. Of the seven, five seats in Ganjam district are held by the ruling BJD while Mohana and Parlakhemundi are represented by Congress and BJP respectively in the Assembly.
Berhampur Lok Sabha seat will go to polls along with three other Lok Sabha constituencies Nabarangpur, Koraput and Kalahandi on May 13.
