Tribal dominated Sundargarh district is considered as the bastion of BJP. Though the BJD has been ruling the State since 2000 but so far, it has been able to win only two MLA seats and has never won the MP seat. Barring the 2009 election, BJP’s Jual Oram has been successfully winning as Sundargarh MP since 1998 and has become Union Minister twice (2000-2004 and 2014-2019).
This time the BJP has three MLAs in the district. Despite this, the party has not yet succeeded in capturing the Zilla Parishad seat since 1997. Though in first Zilla Parishad election in 1997, BJP was the single largest party but it failed to capture the ZP chief post. Similarly, in 2012 the party failed to open account. In 2017, the BJP won in 13 ZP seats, just one less than the BJD. Needless to say, on both occasions BJD has formed the ZP.
Though the political observers say this time the BJP is expected to do a better performance than in 2017, considering the 2019 general election results, but at the same time, they have cited Oram to be a negative factor. A recent feud between Oram and a woman politician, Gouri Mundary, the video of which went viral, could put a spoke in wheel for the party’s electoral prospects.
It may be noted here that Oram is not only a senior party leader but also earlier he was party’s State president and national vice president. So, obviously the party should have expected much to gain from his popularity and experience at least in Sundargarh district. But the way he has been tagged with a problem in last 3-4 days it has tarnished his image to a great extent.
Whether Oram is culprit or not will be established after thorough investigation but the way it has been put by the victim, definitely he is in the dock. Meanwhile, the victim has lodged an allegation in the State Women Commission after lodging FIR in Jhirpani police station. The police have already registered the case under Section 294.
Meanwhile, the BJD and Congress have trained their guns at Oram. Though the audio of the filthy words used by Oram was not yet publicly available (may be the victim has submitted to police) but the reaction the victim has expressed in another call to the Sundargarh MP indicates she later was aggrieved with the words of the senior leader. Similarly, another audio between the victim and a woman indicates that this time Oram was not in a comfortable position to interact over phone. These two audios put Jual in a soup and have been powerful weapons for the Opposition in an election time.
Similarly, many also claim that though Oram had won the 1998, 2000, 2004, 2014 and 2019 Parliament elections, they could not be considered a scale of his popularity. The first three elections were won due to seat adjustment with BJD and a wave in favour of former PM Vajpayee while the last two elections were won by him due to the Modi wave. The 2009 election was an acid test for him and he failed there. Besides, Bonai Assembly seat is considered Oram’s forte but surprisingly he has been unable to ensure the victory of the party nominee from there. Similarly, under Bonai Assembly segment out of 8 Zilla Parishad seats, the BJP has failed to open account in 2012 and 2017 Panchayat elections.
