Sambalpur: Politics is the only culture being practised in Odisha and it has not even spared nuakhai, the popular harvest festival of west Odisha. Gearing up for the next elections, the BJD has decided to celebrate the festival in a big way in entire west Odisha, including its cultural hub Sambalpur.

Though BJD vice-president and Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya said the celebrations would be non-political and everybody would be invited, sources said the party would use the festival to make an emotional connect with the people who would exercise their franchise in almost an year from now.

The move is significant considering that west Odisha is considered to be the stronghold of the BJP, the main rival of the BJD in the state. The BJP is keen to push into the coastal belt where its presence is nominal to say the least, while the BJD is working hard to establish itself in the western belt.

Of BJP's 10 MLAs in the state, eight come from the western region. Sources in the BJP attributed the ruling party's preparedness for nuakhai to its growing fear about losing its base further in the western belt where it is faced with a number of thorny issues including poverty, drought and starvation deaths.

The festival is to be celebrated on September 14. The members of the Pandit Mahasabha, the highest body of pundits of west Odisha, met at the famous Brahmapura temple on Monday to decide the auspicious timing of offering new rice to the deity.

However, the focus, thanks to BJD's decision to celebrate the festival in a big way this time, would be on politics. It is also bound to impart a fresh momentum to the rivalry between the BJD and the BJP who would be contending for the top honours in 2019 elections.