Denial Of Congress Ticket To Rao Angers Berhampur
Berhampur is angry. The coastal constituency in Orissa, a Congress party fortress which sent former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to Parliament in 1996, will not have the choice to vote for their leader this time.
Congress party leaders are girding for a backlash from the large number of Telugu-speaking people, hailing from Raos home state of Andhra Pradesh, among the estimated 940,000 voters in the constituency for the humiliating denial of a party nomination to the former Prime Minister. Rao won from Berhampur and Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh with runaway margins but was not given the ticket by the Congress, which held him responsible for the 1992 demolition of a mosque in Ayodhya.
Congress candidate, Orissa Chief Minister J.B. Patnaiks wife, Jayanti Patnaik, faces the tough task of filling the vacuum created by Raos absence. She also has to tackle the powerful state-wide alliance between the BJP and the regional Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Jayanti Patnaik is facing former party colleague Gopinath Gajpati, who quit the Congress and is now a BJP nominee for the prestigious constituency. Balloting will be held in Berhampur with other western and southern Orissa seats on February 22.
Gajpati, who traces his roots to the Parlakhemundi royal family, has twice represented Berhampur in Parliament as a Congress member in 1989 and 1991 and had opted out of the race in 1996 to make way for Rao. However, Gajpati switched sides this year and is expected to give Jayanti Patnaik, a member of the Rajya Sabha, a run for her money.
The partys strategists are trying to showcase the widespread development activity undertaken during Raos tenure in the constituency, despite having sidelined the leader himself.
But the Telugu factor has always been dominant in the contests here, given the large size of the population that speaks the language and the constituencys cultural links with neighbouring Andhra Pradesh state.
Aware of the possibility of a backlash from this section of the voters, the Congress party is desperately trying to strike an emotional chord with the electorate by projecting Jayanti Patnaik as the daughter of Ganjam, the district under which the constituency falls. Jayanti Patnaik, according to her party colleagues, has family links with the region. However, with Rao not campaigning for the party, it is finding it difficult to woo the Telugu-speaking voters this time.
Jayanti Patnaik is also handicapped by her relative unfamiliarity with the region. Her political activities have so far remained confined mainly to the coastal stretch of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Her daughter of Ganjam image could be difficult to sell to the voters.
Gajpati, on the other hand, is being projected as the son of the soil, with his royal lineage expected to attract voters.
While a section of the Congress party members remain faithful to Gajpati despite his switching sides, his real support comes from the Biju Janata Dal cadres led by the erstwhile queen of Khalikote, Sugyani Kumari Deo, who had lost to Rao in the last election as the Janata Dal candidate. Despite the loss, Deo commands tremendous respect in the constituency.
While Gajpati is likely to find himself confortably placed in Berhampur town, he could find the going difficult to break the Congress hold on several adjoining areas. And in some pockets, powerful communist groups are expected to cut into his support base.
In sharp contrast to the fierce battle raging in Berhampur, it is all quiet in the neighbouring Aska constituency where BJD president Navin Patnaik, son of late Janata Dal patriarch Biju Patnaik, is sitting pretty.
He has everything going in his favour, including the Congress party candidate, Chandra Shekhar Sahu, who is considered a lightweight. Though the CPI too has pitted a candidate against Navin Patnaik, he is unlikely to matter much with the wind blowing in the direction of the writer-turned-politician who has nursed his constituency well during the last few months.
The Congress partys efforts to project him as a non-resident Oriya have failed with Askaites falling in love with his attempts at speaking the native Oriya tongue.
Seen as a man trying to rediscover his roots, Navin Patnaik has arrived in Aska to a rapturous welcome.