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FOR PURI resident Gauranga Suara, 58, the recent “slip of tongue” by BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate Sambit Patra on Lord Jagannath can never be an election issue even though he is upset over Patra’s remark.
Waiting outside the renovated complex of the famed Samaleswari Temple, Sambalpur native Hrusikesh Swain responds quickly to a question to say he will vote for the BJP on May 25 in this Lok Sabha seat. However, when asked about his choice for the Assembly elections, he pauses.
Among the thousands of tribal women who attended Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s rally at Silisuan in the Keonjhar Assembly segment on May 19 was Purnima Majhi, a native of Kankadajodi and a self-help group (SHG) member, who admitted she had little interest in the high-pitch electioneering.
AS VOTING wraps up in nine of the total 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, there seems to be no resurrection of Congress fortunes. The party that won just one seat in 2019, Koraput, seems in with a chance in only two – Koraput again and Nabarangpur in Koraput district, a region known to be its fortress.
AS THE BJP goes all out to improve its performance in Odisha, with repeated claims of winning enough seats to form the government in the state, one issue that top party leaders – from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma – keep bringing up is “safety” of the Ratna Bhandar (treasure trove) of the famed Puri Jagannath temple.
Riding on the Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government’s success in hosting the men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 and its significant efforts for promotion of the sport, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has pulled out all stops to win the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat, which has remained elusive for the ruling party since 1997 when it was founded by Patnaik.
While there are several families with more than one member contesting in the ongoing elections, a husband and wife pair are rare. One such pair are Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo and wife Sangeeta Singh Deo – he the BJP’s candidate for the Patnagarh Assembly seat in Odisha; she the party’s nominee for the Balangir Lok Sabha constituency, under which Patnagarh falls.
At the busy RMC Market Complex at Hinjili in south Odisha, Kiswar Majhi, who runs a tea stall, is dismayed over the “corruption” he encounters at the grassroots and the lack of employment opportunities in the region. However, when it comes to voting on May 20, Majhi admits, his vote will go again to Naveen Patnaik, who has represented the Hinjili constituency since 2000, when he became the Chief Minister.