An election campaign on in Kendrapara. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 12: High-voltage campaign by political heavyweights has changed the profile of Kendrapara municipal elections. The town’s civic problems have been effectively pushed to the background by a cacophonous bid by the major contenders to grab the electorate’s attention on issues such as the 2G scam and the multi-crore mining scandal.

The contest, which sprang to life with BJD’s electoral ally, Nationalist Congress Party, making seat adjustments with the Congress, is being seen as a litmus test for all the contending parties ahead of the panchayat elections due early next year. The signs are clear that the ruling party and the Congress, the main Opposition, have turned it into a prestige battle. Twenty-one seats are at stake in the November 15 polls.

Pulling out all stops, the ruling party has pressed several MPs and ministers into the campaign. While Baijayant Panda, the BJD’s high profile Lok Sabha member from Kendrapara, has been slogging it out, the ruling party has also deployed Bhubaneswar MP, the saffron-robed Prasanna Kumar Patsani and actor-turned-politician Siddhant Mohapatra, both crowd pullers.

Though chief minister Naveen Patnaik is yet to make an appearance, his ministers have been zipping in and out of Kendrapara. Sources said that while energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak has practically been camping in the area, agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy, culture and tourism minister Prafulla Samal and housing and urban development Sarada Prasad Nayak have hit the campaign trail.

Not to be left behind, the Congress, too, has deployed heavyweights. Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers Srikant Jena and some other Congress leaders had a close shave today when the stage at their public meeting venue in the town caved in. Though no one was injured in the incident, it triggered a minor stampede. Jena was sharing the dais with Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Niranjan Patnaik, leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh and former ministers Bhagabat Prasad Mohanty and Sarat Kumar Kar, among others. The meeting resumed after an interruption of 15 minutes.

Though civic issues are being discussed, they are certainly not the focus, which revolves around bigger issues such as corruption. While BJD leaders have sought to target the Congress-led UPA by highlighting various aspects of the 2G scam, the Congress has retaliated by training its guns on the Naveen Patnaik government accusing the chief minister of going soft on the mining scam and shielding corrupt ministers. The issue of the allotment of houses under discretionary quota to a senior minister is also being discussed.

As the campaign turns even more cacophonous, rival party leaders are making tall claims. “We are confident of doing well. The people will reject the ruling party here,” said PCC president Niranjan Patnaik. The sitting BJD MP from Kendrapara, Baijayant Panda, appeared equally confident about the prospects of his party.

Ironically, the voice of the common man has been drowned in the din of the high-voltage campaign. The overriding feeling among the voters is that the parties in contention are not really bothered about their problems.

“None of them actually care about our plight. They will go away once the elections are over but neither the condition of the roads, nor the poor drinking water supply will improve,” said a resident of the town.