New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson and the party’s Puri Lok Sabha candidate, Sambit Patra is leading by over 41,116 votes from the prestigious seat, notwithstanding his gaffe a week ago, when he mistakenly said that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the early data released by the Election Commission of India, at 12.30 pm, Patra garnered 2,27,241 votes against Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) Arup Patnaik, a former Mumbai Police commissioner, who secured 1,86,125 votes.
Patra had lost to BJD’s Pinaki Mishra in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by a slender margin of 11,714 votes. However, he did not abandon the constituency and stayed put in Puri, continuing his outreach with the constituents.
A regular fixture in television debates, Patra virtually disappeared from these debates post his defeat.
This time around, the BJP leader, who holds a master’s degree in surgery from SCB Medical College in Cuttack and has briefly worked as a medical officer in Delhi’s Hindu Rao hospital, had an edge in the Puri seat.
But he inadvertently waded into controversy after he mistakenly said that Lord Jagannath is a devotee of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to reporters after Modi’s roadshow in Puri, Patra told local channel Kanak News, “…Lakhs of people have gathered to see Modi. Lord Jagannath is a devotee (bhakt) of Modi, and we are Modi’s family. This is an unusual sight, and I am not able to control my emotions. I think it is a historic day for all Odias.”
Patra’s accidental remark drew sharp criticism from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who called it an “insult” to the Lord.
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The battle of Puri
Puri is the land of the Jagannath, and the temple city holds immense symbolic significance — culturally and politically — for both the ruling BJD and the BJP.
The grand inauguration of the Rs 800 crore Jagannath temple heritage corridor in January this year was an attempt by the ruling BJD to preempt the BJP’s Hindutva agenda in Odisha.
The BJD has been winning the Puri Lok Sabha seat since 1998. In 2019, of the seven assembly segments under the Puri parliamentary constituency, the BJD won five and the remaining went to the BJP. In such a scenario, losing Puri will be a big loss of face for the BJD.
BJD’s Patnaik had also lost in 2019 from Bhubaneswar against BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi, a former IAS who quit the services to join politics.
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