Samikhsya Bureau
In the 2014 elections, among all candidates fielded by the Bharatiya Janata Party for 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, Subash Chauhan fighting for Bargarh Lok Sabha seat made a name for himself by polling the maximum number of votes and losing by the least number of votes.
So when Chauhan, RSS pracharak turned BJP leader, was denied a ticket in the 2019 for Bargarh Lok Sabha seat, eyebrows were expected to be raised. In BJP circles, it is quite well known that Chauhan and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan have no love lost between them. And fingers were started being pointing at Pradhan for the “sabotage”. There were also protests at the ground in Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency against the BJP leadership’s decision to drop Chauhan.
On Monday, Chauhan himself took to social networking site Facebook to express his displeasure. He said that he joined the BJP after being an RSS pracharak to fight election in Bargarh in 2014. “I got over 3,72,000 votes, more than any other BJP Lok Sabha candidates in Odisha but lost the election. Since then I have been with the people of Bargarh in their good and bad times. When this time, the people of the constituency were getting ready to extend their unflinching support, I was denied my ticket (by BJP leadership). When my cadres and voters reacted, my senior party leaders threatened them. This insult is too much,” he wrote.
Chauhan said that under pressure the BJP leadership made him the state vice president and then asked him to fight chief minister Naveen Patnaik in Bijepur assembly constituency under Bargarh Lok Sabha seat. “But as the chief minister was fighting in Bijepur, I suggested that a powerful and wealthy Dharmendra babu (Pradhan) should face him,” he said.
The post by Chauhan has clearly blamed Pradhan for the mess he has created in the state BJP. It also reflects on the precarious position of BJP in western Odisha.
Traditionally, the BJP has strong support base in western parts of Odisha. Even during BJD-BJP coalition government, most of the BJP’s MLAs were elected from this region.
However, the BJP leadership in Odisha seem to be scoring self-goals with the selection of candidates for Lok Sabha. Former state president Suresh Pujari has been given ticket for Bargarh Lok Sabha seat in the place of Chauhan. Like Chauhan, Pujari had also given a fierce fight to BJD’s Nagendra Pradhan in Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat.
But instead of asking Pujari to contest from Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat, where there was probability of him winning, the party shifted him to Bargarh. In his place, Deogarh BJP MLA Nitesh Ganga Deb has been fielded as party candidate for Sambalpur Lok Sabha.
Ganga Deb had a fair chance of being re-elected from Deogarh assembly seat, because he commands respect of people as the erstwhile king of Deogarh. But beyond Deogarh district, he has no appeal.
Now BJP’s chance of winning Sambalpur and Bargarh Lok Sabha seats, and Deogarh assembly seat does not seem to be bright.
