Odisha: Stage set for keen contest in Bijepur byelection

BHUBANESWAR: With Congress naming Pranay Sahu as its contestant for the Bijepur byelection on Sunday, the assembly segment in Bargarh district is finally set for a triangular fight involving BJD, BJP and Congress.
Pranay, son of three-time MLA Birendra Sahu, faces BJD's Rita Sahu, widow of three-time Congress MLA Subal Sahu whose death necessitated the bypoll, and BJP contestant Ashok Panigrahi, a former MLA.

Three or four more candidates from the fringe parties may enter the poll fray, along with independents, though the battle looks to be between the mentioned three.

At present the vice-president of Gaisilat block, 61-year-old Pranay has a strong organizational base in what is one of the three blocks comprising the Bijepur assembly seat. The other two are Bijepur and Barpali. With him, Pranay brings the political legacy of his father Birendra who represented the Melchhamunda constituency thrice in the state assembly between 1967 and 1971, 1971 and 1973 and 1977 and 1980 when Gaisilat used to be a part of Melchhamunda. Pranay belongs to the Kulita caste, one of the dominant communities in Bargarh. He has been active in Gaisilat politics since 1997, when he first became its vice-chairman.

"Bijepur has been a Congress ground. There is no reason why I won't win," Pranay said. If Pranay can bank on his and his father's enduring popularity, Rita can aspire to cash in on the support base of her husband Subal in addition to the strength of the ruling BJD party. Despite the BJD winning seats in other parts of the state in the last assembly elections, Subal had remained the lone guard over Bijepur, winning in 2004, 2009 and 2014 on the Congress's ticket.

Rita, who has switched to the BJD, said, "Most of my husband's supporters have come with me to the BJD."

The BJP's candidate Ashok Panigrahi, who represented Bijepur on a BJD ticket for the term 2000-2004, aspires to ride Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity wave to victory in Bijepur. Fighting as a BJD rebel in 2014, Panigrahi had polled 18,232 votes - a fact that was blamed for the defeat of BJD's official candidate Prasanna Acharya then. While Acharya had polled 52,832, winner Subal Sahu had got 53,290 that year. "There is a sweep in the support for BJP now," Panigrahi said.

In the zilla parishad election last February, the BJP had won six of seven ZP zones in Bijepur.