BJD may find the going tough in Angul

Angul: The Biju Janata Dal, which has retained the Angul Assembly segment since the 2000 elections, will find the going tough in 2024. By all accounts, the prestigious seat will witness a triangular contest among BJD, BJP and Congress candidates. While both the BJD and the Congress have changed their candidates, the BJP has retained its nominee Pratap Pradhan. Prarap is locking horns with BJD candidate Sanjukta Singh and Congress candidate Ambika Prasad Bhatta. Sanjukta is the wife of incumbent legislator Rajanikant Singh, who has been winning the seat since 2004 elections. This time, the BJD supremo denied Rajanikant a ticket and fielded his wife Sanjukta in a move to counter anti-incumbency. According to political observers, despite a change of candidate, the BJD will find it difficult to retain this seat as there is a widespread dissidence within the party. Local leaders Bhakti Prasad Das, Mahesh Dhal and others left the BJD and joined the BJP. People are largely aggrieved at the BJD as it has failed to check elephant menace. There is strong anti-incumbency prevailing in the constituency, which may be detrimental to the party.

Still, the BJD leaders are hopeful of winning this seat banking on the charisma of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The BJD is leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters in favour of the party.

On the other hand, the BJP and the Congress are also trying hard to win the seat. The BJP nominee, Pratap Pradhan, who lost to BJD by a margin of 7,000 votes in 2019, is confident of his victory after some BJD leaders came into the BJP fold. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan is widely campaigning for him in the constituency and appealing to voters to support him. Congress nominee Ambika Prasad Bhatta is also hopeful of winning the seat as he has a support base across the constituency. He is going to the people highlighting the failure of the Central and the State governments.