With the murder of senior BJD leader and Cabinet Minister Naba Kisore Das, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is searching for a tall leader to fill up the vacuum created in western Odisha.
The BJD is always facing a tough fight against opposition BJP and Congress in the western region as all three political parties have a strong base in different districts and pockets in the area.
To deal with it, the BJD had brought many senior Congress leaders including Naba Das and Bhupinder Singh into its fold. Besides, the party had also picked up veteran bureaucrats like Asit Tripathy and Nalini Kanta Pradhan to further strengthen its base in the region.
Among all, late Minister Naba Das was a great asset for the party. He was not only a good organiser but also supported the party in raising funds as he was very actively involved with trade and business in the western region of the State.
He was having a strong organisation in many of the western districts like Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sambalpur and Sundargarh. So, it is clear that the BJD has suffered a heavy loss with the death of Das.
According to sources, the BJD is very likely to pick up Das’s daughter Dipali for the by-poll as it was a wish of the deceased Minister to bring his daughter in electoral politics.
According to local political pundits, Dipali may fill the vacancy in the Assembly in the event she wins but in terms of finding an experienced leader of strong organisational skill like Das, the vacuum may stay. So, the ruling party would try it best to search for tall leader of western Odisha before the upcoming polls.
“There are three or four senior BJD leaders in the western Odisha, who are, we can say, under-utilised now. The leaders are Kalikesh Singhdeo and Nalini Kant Pradhan. Besides, the party can also promote active leaders like Asit Tripathy, Susanta Singh and Prasanna Acharya,” said a political expert.
Kalikesh is a young dynamic political personality and belongs to a major political family having wide influence in western Odisha. Prasanna Acharya and Susanta Singh are also good organisers and ensured the party’s victory in all by-polls held recently in Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency.
As the party nowadays is giving much importance to bureaucrat- turned politicians, so, leaders like Tripathy and Pradhan may also be brought to the forefront by the BJD boss in place of Das, the expert said.
However, the BJD will definitely look into the criteria like loyalty to the party and leadership, organising quality, public relations, money power and acceptability within the party, he added.
Meanwhile, the Odisha Assembly Secretariat has already notified the vacancy of Jharsuguda Assembly seat and the bypoll to the seat may be held anytime soon.
