Local leaders give BJD heft in Balasore bypoll

BHUBANESWAR: The BJD is banking on local leaders, who have switched over from other parties, in a bid to win back the Balasore Sadar seat from the BJP in the November 3 byelection.
Despite half-a-dozen ministers, several veterans and as many as 20 MLAs campaigning for BJD candidate Swarup Kumar Das, the party has added local leaders to the fray for the connect.
Manas Das Patnaik, who was the Congress candidate in Balasore Sadar in the 2014 and 2019 assembly elections, switched over to the BJD along with his supporters on Wednesday, another local Congress leader, Madhabananda Maini, joined the ruling party on Thursday. Others like local BJP leader Hemalata Behera and Congress’s Sridhar Praharaj also joined the BJD ahead of the byelection.
“Manas has a good support base in Balasore. He had polled around 25,000 votes in 2014 and nearly 20,000 in 2019. His joining the party will strengthen us. All the leaders who have recently joined our party have good support base. The leaders have joined our party by reposing their faith on the leadership of chief minister Naveen Patnaik,” Das told the media after an induction programme.
The BJD has decided to focus on the micro level by forming committees of youth, students and women at the ward level. While targeting particular section of voters, the BJD leaders have also organized conventions of students, farmers and workers. “Since the state government in the past 20 years has undertaken many developmental work for various sections of people, we are highlighting our good work by organizing meetings and seeking people’s support,” said a senior BJD leader.
The BJP, on the other hand, has Union minister Pratap Sarangi running the show. Given that Balasore Sadar seat is in his home turf, Sarangi has been keeping a close watch on proceedings. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan will be on the campaign trail from Friday. He is scheduled to campaign for BJP candidate Rajkishore Behera in Tirtol on Friday and for Manas Kumar Dutta in Balasore on Saturday. The Union minister is likely to conduct roadshows and address rallies in both the constituencies.
Senior Congress leaders have also started campaigning in Tirtol and Balasore Sadar, seeking support for their candidates.