BJD overdrive in Sundargarh with eye on panchayat polls   

ROURKELA:  In a massive exercise ahead of the panchayat elections slated to be held next year, ruling Biju Janata Dal will embark on a voter connect drive in Sundargarh with the visit of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to the district on February 16.

The CM is scheduled to lay foundation stones and inaugurate projects worth around Rs 4,000 crore in the district. Three days ahead of Naveen’s visit to Rourkela, 17 Ministers accompanied by at least 80 BJD legislators are also slated to camp in 17 blocks of the district and connect with the rural masses. 

Rourkela MLA and Sundargarh District Planning Committee chairman Sarada Prasad Nayak said the CM would lay foundation for the world-class and India’s largest hockey stadium at the Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) campus. At the same venue, he would lay foundations and inaugurate projects worth around Rs 4,000 crore. 

For the visit, one Minister each has been deputed in 17 blocks. Each Minister would be assisted by three to four MLAs. The BJD leaders would reach their respective blocks on February 13 and stay put till the CM’s programme. For three days, the Ministers and MLAs would interact with the rural masses, review implementation of government programmes and also hold organisational meetings. The CM’s programme would be watched by people in each block headquarters through live-streaming along with 279 locations in gram panchayats.    

Incidentally, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pratap Jena visited 11 blocks on Monday and Tuesday and till February 11, would cover the remaining six blocks. Jena reviewed development works, addressed public meetings and party workers in each block.  Earlier, on January 28 and 31, Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera had addressed public gatherings in all the blocks with any eye on luring the rural voters. Behera was visiting Sundargarh to inspect the proposed sites for setting up astro-turf hockey training centres. 

The three-tier panchayat elections are slated to be held in February, 2022. The incumbent BJD chairperson Emma Ekka is in minority in the 35-member Sundargarh Zilla Parishad (ZP). With only 13 seats, she is leading the ZP council with support of Congress and others. The BJP is being seen as a big threat to the ruling party.  Ekka said the efforts are aimed at strengthening governance and hoped that voters would repose faith in the party in the rural polls.