Setback for Congress as Jharsuguda leader joins BJD ahead of bypoll

BHUBANESWAR: In a jolt to Congress ahead of Jharsuguda bypoll, Mahendra Naik, the party’s candidate in the 2019 election, joined BJD on Friday.Naik formally joined BJD in the presence of Rajya Sabha member Manas Mangaraj at a ‘mishran parva (joining ceremony) organised at the party headquarters here. He had finished third after Naba Kishore Das of BJD and Dinesh Kumar Jain of BJP in 2019 by polling 18,823 votes.

Sources said though Naik was a strong contender for a ticket for the bypoll, the party ignored him and fielded Tarun Pandey from the seat. Tarun is the son of the late Biren Pandey, who was elected to the Assembly thrice from the seat on a Congress ticket in 1980, 1985 and 1995. Political observers believe Naik’s desertion will affect the prospects of the bypoll as he belongs to Gond community which has around six per cent votes in the constituency. Naik quitting the Congress ahead of the bypoll is a repeat of 2019 election when former Health and Family Welfare minister Naba Kishore Das had resigned from the party to join BJD.

Das won the seat for BJD. However, the seat  fell vacant following his murder by a police ASI on January 29. President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Patnaik, however, said Naik’s desertion will have no impact on Congress. “These things continue in Congress. So many people resign, so many come in,” he said.