Tough road ahead for BJD

SAMBALPUR:  All is not well within the district unit of BJD which is now facing an uphill task of retaining Sambalpur Assembly constituency amidst internal bickering and organisational issues. 
The Assembly seat covers areas under Sambalpur Municipal Corporation including Burla and Hirakud. It is currently being represented by BJD MLA Raseswari Panigrahi, who was a ‘parachute candidate’ in the 2014 General Elections. 

She managed to win the Sambalpur seat by defeating senior BJP leader and former minister Jayanarayan Mishra by a margin of 9,958 votes. However, she has ince failed to strengthen the party organisation in the constituency and keep the BJD vote bank intact.Problems of  the BJD do not end here. Neither does it have a district unit president nor district committee. Though Pramod Rath was the district BJD president, he was removed from the post abruptly in January this year due to intra-party squabble before he could form the district committee. Sources in the party said Rath had submitted a list to the state committee for its approval for formation of district committee but due to opposition by Panigrahi, the committee could not be formed.

On March 9, former Chairman of Sambalpur Development Authority (SDA) Jayabrata Dey, who has substantial influence over slums and minority votes, was dismissed from the party on charges of anti-party activities. Removal of Rath and dismissal of Dey will be the major drawback for the ruling party in the seat that is going to polls on April 23.

The BJD is likely to repeat Panigrahi’s candidature but she no longer enjoys as much support among local party workers.On the other hand, BJP is likely to field three times BJP MLA from the Sambalpur Assembly seat Jayanarayan Mishra. He has considerable influence over the slums dwellers and people residing in Old Town area of the city.  

Similarly, Congress is likely to put up district Congress president and former Sambalpur MLA Aswini Guru for the seat, which was once the bastion of the party.Political observers said, intra-party squabble is going to be a major threat for BJD during the poll. The party should now try to persuade the displeased BJD workers, who have kept themselves away, and give them priority if it wants to retain the seat, they observed.

SAMBALPUR CONSTITUENCY 
IN NUMBERS
Total Voters - 1,98, 555
Men - 1,00,986
Women - 97,526
Others - 43
Issues That Matter
● High Court bench demand
● Non-availability of drinking water
● Doctor vacancies 
in VIMSAR and DHH
●Vacant faculty positions in Sambalpur University, Gangadhar Meher University
● Poor sanitation
PAST ELECTIONS
2014
Who won: Raseswari Panigarhi of BJD
Victory Margin : 9,958 votes
2009
Who won: Jayanarayan Mishra of BJP
Victory Margin: 7,010 votes