Surya Narayan Patro

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 23: The BJD is pulling out all stops to retain its hold on the Umerkote Assembly seat.

As many as 11 ministers, eight MPs and 35 BJD MLAs are slogging it out in the constituency, the campaign being orchestrated by Rajya Sabha member and party second-in-command Pyari Mohan Mohapatra. Prominent among the ministers, the BJD has drafted for the seat, are revenue minister Surjya Narayan Patro, agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy and panchayati raj minister Maheswar Mohanty.

Top leaders of the Congress and the BJP are also camping in Umerkote, where a bypoll has been necessitated following the murder of sitting BJD MLA Jagbandhu Majhi.

The 39-year-old MLA, bound to a wheel chair because of a spine injury, was shot dead by suspected Maoists on September 24. Hoping to cash in on the sympathy generated by his death, the BJD has fielded Subas Ganda, one of the close associates of Majhi. While the BJP is pinning its hopes on seasoned campaigner Dhrama Ganda, the Congress has fielded Jatindra Ganda. Dharma Ganda had represented the constituency from 2004 to 2009.

Fresh from its thumping victory in the Kendrapara municipal polls, the BJD has gone into the contest with all its guns blazing.

The BJD campaign is expected to receive a major boost when chief minister Naveen Patnaik will visit the constituency on Friday. Senior party leaders appear high on confidence. “Winning has become a habit for the party,” said BJD senior leader and finance minister Prafulla Ghadei.

Mohapatra said: “We will certainly emerge victorious.”

Echoing the same feelings, president of the Biju Yuba Janata Dal Sanjay Das Burma said: “Once the chief minister visits the area, things will change decisively in our favour.”

With 11 of the state’s 22 ministers in Umerkote, the administration has apparently come to a standstill with hardly anything moving at the state secretariat. Moreover, at present, chief secretary Bijay Patnaik is away on a foreign trip and Naveen, who had suffered strain in his leg and is keeping himself confined to his official residence Naveen Niwas, has not visited the secretariat for the last one week. With him absent, even the ministers, who happen to be in Bhubaneswar, hardly ever visit the secretariat.

Reacting to the BJD’s all-out attempt to win the bypoll, state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik said: “The experience in Kendarapara shows that this election is not going to be free and fair. The BJD, by sending all its leaders to Umerkote, wants to influence voters by any means. The election commission must intervene in the interest of free and fair polls.”

The Congress has also demanded deployment of paramilitary forces in Umerkote and manual voting instead of EVM machine which, it feels, can be tampered with.

The Congress and the BJP are, however, doing their best, to checkmate the BJD.

Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra said: “History will be created here. The people of Umerkote will show the way to the rest of the state.”

The saffron party also plans to rope in two chief ministers — Dr Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh and Arjun Munda of Jharkhand — to canvas in favour of its candidate, Dharma Ganda. State BJP spokesperson Ashok Sahu said: “We are far ahead in campaign till now, but the last two days are important for us.”