BJD walks a tight rope over Jogesh Singh’s inclusion

SUNDARGARH: THE BJD in Sundargarh Assembly constituency is a divided house over the issue of entry of former Congress MLA Jogesh Singh in the party and the possibility of giving the ticket to him.
Efforts of Sundargarh district observer Prashant Nanda and MLA Pranab Prakash Das to convince party workers in the constituency in this regard on Saturday proved futile. They faced resistance from supporters of BJD leader and candidate in 2014 elections Kusum Tete. Tete’s supporters argued in favour of her candidature this time citing that she has worked hard to rejuvenate the party organisation in the constituency. They also suggested to accommodate Singh in the neighbouring Talsara Assembly constituency.

BJD insiders claimed that Tete, who had unsuccessfully contested the election last time, has managed to bring the party to a winnable position now. Singh, on the other hand, after being suspended from Congress suffers from a negative image along with anti-incumbency factor having represented Sundargarh constituency twice consecutively from 2009.

BJD State Executive Member Jitendra Das said decision of Naveen Patnaik would be final over candidate selection in Sundargarh constituency. He opined that Tete has a strong winnable factor and deserves ticket this time as well.

However, Singh’s winning prospect as BJD nominee cannot be rejected. A Bhuiyan leader, Singh has his own support base and the caste has traditionally played a decisive role in Sundargarh. In 2014, Singh had polled 66,138 votes at 41.77 per cent to defeat Tete with a lead of 12,584 votes, while in 2009 he won against BJD nominee Sunil Singh Deo with a margin of 20,930 votes.

Political observers said in the event of Tete’s supporters managing to stonewall Singh’s entry, the former Congress MLA may be lapped up by the BJP. Because in the erstwhile stranglehold of Sundargarh constituency, the BJP lacks candidates who can manage to win. However, Singh’s inclusion to BJP may not be easy. A local BJP leader had challenged the caste of  Singh and the Orissa High Court in January last year had cancelled the latter’s election. The case may come up for hearing in the Supreme Court in April.