Kendrapara: A high-stakes contest is brewing in Odisha’s Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, once held by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s father Biju Patnaik. Winning in this coastal town, considered a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) citadel, has turned into a “prestige” issue both for the ruling BJD and its primary challenger in the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Biju Patnaik had won Kendrapara parliamentary seat thrice, in 1977, 1980 and 1984. The BJD has held on to this seat since 1998.
Odisha is headed for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections, with Kendrapara going to the polls on 1 June. The seat has seven assembly segments, all of which were won by the BJD in 2019.
In this contest, the BJD has fielded Anshuman Mohanty, son of Nalini Kanta Mohanty — once a close aide of Biju Patnaik and a former minister in Naveen’s cabinet who was expelled from the BJD in 2001 and subsequently joined the Congress.
Anshuman has been pitted against the BJP’s national vice president and two-time MP from Kendrapara, Baijayant Jay Panda, who had won the seat in 2009 and 2014 on a BJD ticket. Having fallen out with Naveen, he left the BJD to join the BJP in 2019.
In the Lok Sabha polls that year, he lost to Oriya actor and then BJD candidate Anubhav Mohanty in Kendrapara by a sizable margin of 1.53 lakh votes. Anubhav joined the BJP earlier this month, days after he parted ways with the BJD saying he felt ‘suffocated’.
Duryodhan Parida, a retired English professor at Kendrapara Autonomous College, told ThePrint that it is “going to be a tough contest in Kendrapara this time”.
“Anshuman Mohanty, the BJD candidate, shifted from Congress to BJD in February, just before the polls and was given a ticket. This has not gone down well, both with the people and a section of BJD workers despite the fact that he is the son of Nalini Mohanty, who was a popular BJD leader and a close aide of Biju babu before he was expelled,” Parida added.
Parida also said that, compared to 2019, there has been an upswing in BJP’s popularity this time. “Also, there is anti-incumbency against the BJD. But BJP has not been able to take advantage of the anti-incumbency… they do not have the organisational strength to match the heft of BJD. Even Congress has failed to capitalise on this anti-incumbency,” he said.
Also Read: In Puri, it’s ‘only Jagannath’, not Ram temple. Modi matters, but Naveen Patnaik still holds sway
Anubhav Mohanty’s unpopularity could dent BJD
Though Kendrapara is considered a BJD bastion, voters here, including BJD’s own party workers, said the coastal town is set to witness a high-voltage electoral contest. The unpopularity of Anubhav Mohanty, the sitting MP who had contested on a BJD ticket in 2019 but shifted to BJP earlier this year, has dented the BJD’s image. At the same time, the BJP has seen an uptick in its popularity in the seat between 2019 and now.
Besides, Panda’s heft within the BJP has also grown since. “He is the party’s national vice president, election incharge for Uttar Pradesh and incharge for Delhi, Assam and Mahila Morcha. The BJP will put its organisational might behind him. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to campaign for him,” said a state BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.
About the contest in Odisha, Baijayant Jay Panda told ThePrint, “The BJD was founded with assistance from the BJP back in 1997. A day after the BJD was formed, an alliance with BJP was announced. The alliance lasted 11 odd years after which it was broken.
“In the meantime, the BJP has steadily grown (in Odisha). It used to be a distant third but in the last election cycle, it became a close Number 2 to BJD and won 8 of 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha for the first time. Now, within the last five years, we have kept on growing dramatically while the incumbent’s graph has been hit very hard by anti-incumbency.”
Expressing confidence in the BJP’s prospects, he added, “This time, we are going to see a massive uptick…. Sky’s the limit. You see various surveys, which started a few months ago. They said we will win 12, 13 or 14 seats. But now there are surveys, which say we will win 16-18 seats. Who knows where it can reach because there is a momentum and enormous support for PM Modi’s leadership.”
Asked about the actor-politician who won the seat for the BJD in 2019, Dinesh Mohanty, a resident of Kendrapara’s Kalapada village, told ThePrint that Anubhav Mohanty had “not touched the soil of Kendrapara since winning; he hardly came… he is not accessible.”
This narrative is commonly heard in Kendrapara and though these are early days of campaigning, many in the coastal town say it could dent the BJD.
Anshuman, the BJD’s pick to contest the general election from Kendrapara, was Congress MLA from Rajanagar — one of the assembly segments under the Kendrapara parliamentary seat — from 2014 to 2019. He left the Congress and joined the BJD in February this year.
His father Nalini Kanta Mohanty won the Rajanagar assembly seat seven times between 1977 and 2004.
“Kendrapara is the belt of Janata Dal and the BJD has maximum presence in all the assembly constituencies. If you see the Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency, all seven assembly seats under it have a BJD MLA. It is unfortunate that our sitting MP did not visit the constituency but all the MLAs kept on serving the people,” Anshuman told ThePrint.
Asked about his opponent, Anshuman added, “He (Panda) is an industrialist but as an MP he was not able to bring one industry to Kendrapara.”
Biju babu’s legacy & anti-incumbency
Many in Kendrapara were of the opinion that Biju Patnaik’s legacy could eventually end up helping the BJD and its candidate buck anti-incumbency sentiment.
“In Kendrapara, it is the legacy of Biju Patnaik that ensures victory for the BJD, both in Lok Sabha and assembly (polls). Here, families down the generations have voted for the BJD because of Biju babu. He was a popular leader of this place. It is for his father’s legacy, we are supporting Naveen Patnaik,” said Pradipta Kumar Pradhan, former sarpanch of Baccharai gram panchayat, which falls under Patkura assembly constituency.
Despite Kendrapara going to the polls in the seventh phase on 1 June, both the BJP and the BJD have already intensified their campaigns through rallies and public meetings.
A local BJP leader told ThePrint that the party has more workers on the ground this time around compared to 2019. “There has been an increase in party membership. Our workers are going door-to-door seeking votes. Also, we have strengthened our organisation on the ground, right up to the booth level,” said the BJP leader, who did not wish to be named.
Residents of Kendrapara ThePrint spoke to added that, compared to the previous general election, BJP flags and festoons were more visible in rural and urban pockets this time.
Panda’s opponent is also not leaving any stone unturned. From visiting temples to holding road shows and meeting party workers to chalk out strategy, Anshuman Mohanty has a hectic campaign schedule.
Bhubaneswar-based senior journalist Kedar Mishra told ThePrint that the BJD’s well-thought-out strategy to give tickets to children of former BJD leaders, who either left the party owing to differences with the leadership, or were expelled by Naveen, could benefit the party.
“The return of children of former senior BJD leaders like Nalini Kanta Mohanty and Bijoy Mohapatra back to the party fold will help their sons and the BJD. For instance, sympathy for Nalini Kanta Mohanty will go in favour of his son, Anshuman. In Kendrapara, there was a grouse for a long time among the people after these former towering leaders of the party were expelled by Naveen Patnaik. People did not take it well,” said Mishra.
Anshuman Mohanty agreed. “This has a double impact. For instance, my father had massive influence in Rajanagar from where he won multiple times. Giving me a ticket from Kendrapara will ensure some of my father’s traditional voters shift to me,” he told ThePrint.
Similarly, the BJD has also given a ticket to Arabinda Mohapatra, son of former BJD leader Bijoy Kumar Mohapatra.
“Mohapatra was a close confidant of Biju Patnaik. He was expelled from the party by Naveen Patnaik and joined the BJP. By giving a ticket to his son, the BJD has ensured two things: Mohapatra senior, who is still a popular leader, will campaign for his son, and also get his trusted voters to shift their loyalty to his son,” said Mishra.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: 25 years of BJD – what makes the party & its president, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, click