NEWS
VIEWS
INTERVIEWS
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
ISSUES '98
MANIFESTOS
OVERHEARD
POLLING BOOTH
INDIA SPEAKS!
YEH HAI INDIA
CHAT

Despite Congress bravado, Orissa fight will be tough

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

While Congress leaders are confident of sweeping the Lok Sabha election in Orissa, at least half a dozen constituencies are likely to see a tough fight.

Congress workers are jubilant because most constituencies will see a triangular contest, benefitting them. However, several constituencies, particularly in western and southern Orissa, will witness a one-to-one fight between the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party-Biju Janata Dal combine.

Unlike the last Lok Sabha election, the Janata Dal has been reduced to a skeletal force after the splits in the party. In fact, the BJD was formed when Biju Patnaik's son Naveen split from the Janata Dal in December, taking away a large section of workers.

The Congress is apprehensive of constituencies where it will be pitted directly against the BJP-BJD, fearing a change in the voters's mood.

This is most visible in Berhampur, considered a traditional Congress stronghold, where the party candidate is Jayanti Patnaik, Orissa Chief Minister J B Patnaik's wife. The previous candidate was former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, who had won with a comfortable margin even as his party was decimated in other parts of the country.

When Rao was denied a party nomination, Patnaik was forced to field his wife to retain the seat. "The Congress has won this seat ever since 1957," blustered Congress spokesperson Kailash Acharya. "It will be no different this time."

Jayanti Patnaik will face BJP-BJD candidate Gopinath Gajpati, a former Congress MP from Berhampur who joined the BJP recently. Congress leaders accept that if the Janata Dal stays away, it will be difficult to defeat Gajpati since he is popular in the constituency.

The Congress is confident of repeating its last performance, if not improving it. It won 16 seats in 1996, while, in 1991, it won only 13 seats. "A division among the non-Congress parties always favours the party," said Acharya.

In Bolangir, sitting Congress MP Sarat Patnaik won the last time due to a split in the non-Congress votes between the BJP and the Janata Dal. This time round, the seat has gone to the BJP, but this upset a senior BJD vice-president, A U Singh Deo, who resigned in protest.

Congress leaders are chalking out bold strategies to face the new political realignment. This was evident when the Congress not only denied a party ticket to one of its MPs in the dissolved Lok Sabha, but also fielded some new faces from where it had lost the last time.

While campaigning is yet to begin in right earnest, it appears the Congress may find it difficult to defeat its main rivals, the BJD-BJP. The latter alliance is confident of gaining in the Congress strongholds, notwithstanding the resentment among workers of both parties over the seat sharing adjustment. "We will defeat the Congress at many places for the first time," said a senior BJP leader.

The Congress is considered strong in Balasore, Berhampur, Bolangir, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Keojhar, Nowrangpur, Phulbani and Sundergarh.

The BJP-BJD has also decided to give a tough fight to the chief minister's high-flying son-in-law, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who is contesting the Bhubaneswar seat and the controversial Congress MP from Puri, Pinaki Mishra.

Another candidate likely to face a tough fight is Bhakta Charan Das, who defected to the Congress recently from the Samajwadi Janata Party. Das, a former Union minister, represents Kalahandi in Parliament. Said a BJD leader, "Despite J B Patnaik's support, Das's BJP opponent B K Deo will give him a run for his money."

Tell us what you think of this report