Congress turncoat Hemendra Chandra Singh, who joined the BJD at the last minute, is locked in a triangular battle in this Lok Sabha constituency. The scion of Nayagarh royal family, Singh is facing the prospects of undercutting from his own party rebels.

Resentment against his candidature runs deep in the party, which, apart from denying ticket to outgoing MP Rudra Madhab Ray, has dropped three sitting MLAs. The Lok Sabha seat includes parts of four districts — Kandhamal, Boudh, Nayagarh and Ganjam.

While Debendra Kanhar was denied the party from the Phulbani Assembly segment, Bhagwan Kanhar and Kashinath Mallick were dropped from Kantamal and Daspalla, respectively. Though none is contesting as a rebel, fearing disciplinary action from the party, they are not working wholeheartedly for Singh.

The 46-year-old royal is the richest candidate in the Lok Sabha fray in the first phase of polls slated for April 10. His total assets, both movable and immovable, are worth Rs 48.75 crore.

Pitted against Congress veteran Harihar Karan and BJP’s Sukant Panigrahy, BJD candidate Singh is battling an outsider tag in large parts of this tribal-dominated and communally sensitive constituency. “We have never before seen him in our district. He was not there when we were going through our phase of turbulence during the communal riots of 2008,” said Balabhadra Kanhar of Baliguda.

The memories of that communal conflagration sparked off by the killing of VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his disciples at his Jalespeta ashram in August 2008 are still fresh in the minds of the people. “The riots have left scars, which are difficult to heal. Many people were uprooted from their homes. Fear still haunts them,” said Swarup Nayak, a minority community member in Phulbani.

In the 2009 elections, the BJP had reaped the harvest of polarisation in the wake of the riots winning two of the three Assembly seats in the district. However, in the Lok Sabha, its candidate Ashok Sahu, known as a hard-liner, lost by a big margin to BJD’s Rudra Madhab Ray. The minority community rallied behind the BJD after it had dumped the BJP, which had been its alliance partner in the state for 11 years.

This time round, the BJP finds it hard to play the communal card with normality having long returned to the riot-ravaged district and people craving for peace. To make things more difficult for itself, the party has shifted Ashok Sahu to Puri Lok Sabha constituency and has pitted a new face, Sukanta Panigrahy, who is fervently hoping for the Modi factor to work in his favour. There is no perceptible tilt of the voters towards the party.

Congress candidate Harihar Karan, a former minister, is banking on the party’s traditional votebank among the majority tribal people and Dalits of the constituency. Considering that in 2009 the party had trailed in all the Assembly segments of the constituency, it is not going to be an easy task for him.

To make things worse, Independent candidate Lambodar Kanhar, president of the Kandhamal Swabhiman Manch which has been agitating for tribal people’s rights, may take away some of Congress’s votes. Under the circumstances, almost all the candidates are keeping their fingers crossed.