Amidst of the intense lobbying by career politicians to get themselves tickets from their respective political parties, an unusual scene is being witnessed in the Kamakhyanagar Assembly constituency where the common people, performing and artistes, film and television artists’ organisations have been pleading with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for nominating a leading playwright to represent them.
The numerous organisations which have pleaded with the BJP leadership for giving ticket to playwright Arun Kumar Nayak, among others, include Odisha Film and Television Writers Association, local units of Krushak Vikash Parisad and Senior Citizens’ Forum. Besides, a number of Sarapanches have also pleaded for fielding Nayak as the saffron party candidate.
“Kamakhyanagar holds the record of sending the first BJP MLA to Odisha Legislative Assembly. He hailed from the rich background of art and culture. Hence, we demand Arun Nayak who has made the area proud with his literary skill,” Girish Chandra Sahoo of Bhuban town under the constituency, said.
Kamakhyanagar is now represented by BJD MLA Prafulla Mallick who is also Steel and Mines Minister in the Naveen Patnaik Cabinet. Though the 76-year-old Mallick wants to contest from the seat in the coming polls, some of the young BJD ticket aspirants are reportedly opposing him.
In the 2019 Assembly polls, Mallick won the seat by polling 81,695 votes against 65,186 votes bagged by the BJP’s Satrughan Jena.
