Oppn accuses Patnaik of fostering parivarvaad, BJD said tickets given on merit
Of the candidates for 72 assembly and 15 Lok Sabha seats declared by BJD, at least two dozen have got tickets due to their dynastic connections.
Bhubaneshwar: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha has come under criticism from the opposition, who have accused the party president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik of parivarvaad or dynasty politics.
Of the candidates for 72 assembly and 15 Lok Sabha seats declared by BJD, at least two dozen candidates have got tickets due to their dynastic connections.
In the Puri assembly constituency, the BJD has fielded Sunil Mohanty, the son of late BJD minister Maheswar Mohanty in assembly polls scheduled to take place in May and June while in the Dhenkanal Lok Sabha constituency, Abinash Sanal, radiologist and nephew of party MLA Sudhir Samal is the BJD candidate.
In the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency, the party has fielded Koushalya Hikaka, wife of former party MP Jhina Hikaka. In the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency, the party chose Manmath Routray, a former pilot and son of veteran Congress minister Suresh Routray.
In the Sukinda assembly constituency, Pritiranjan Ghadei, son of veteran BJD minister Prafulla Ghadei is the party candidate for the third time overlooking many rightful claimants.
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In the Digapahandi assembly constituency, Biplab Patrao has been made party candidate after the demise of his father and former Speaker of Odisha Assembly, Surya Patro while in Chikiti, Chinmayananda Srirup Deb is the candidate after sitting MLA and minister Usha Devi decided against contesting.
From the Bolangir assembly constituency, which has been a fiefdom of the Singhdeo riyal families, Kalikesh Singhdeo, son of former minister AU Singhdeo has been nominated as party candidate.
In the Patkura assembly constituency, Arabinda Mohapatra, son of former BJD leader Bijay Mohapatra got the party ticket. In the Banki assembly constituency, Debiranjan Tripathy, son of former party MLA Prabhat Tripathy has again been renominated.
In Cuttack-Choudwar, the party chose Souvic Biswal, son of former party MLA Pravat Biswal for the second time, overlooking many claimants including Rupali Lenka.
Lenka said he would stand as an independent candidate and defeat the BJD candidate after being denied a ticket.
“We gave our blood and sweat to the party for a long time and yet the party chooses a person just because he is the son of a former MLA. I will stand as an independent candidate and defeat BJD candidate,” said Lenka.
In Jajpur’s Dharmasala assembly constituency, the party nominated sitting MLA Pranab Balabantray, son of veteran MLA Kalpataru Das, sidelining Zilla Parishad member Satish Biswal.
“I have been an active member of the BJD for a long time and have done the groundwork all these years to participate in the assembly elections. I had high hopes from Naveen Patnaik on ending parivarvaad in BJD. Yet he dashed my hopes,” said Biswal, who resigned from the party a day after the candidate list was out.
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BJP spokesperson Pitambar Acharya said nothing was surprising about BJD’s list encouraging dynastic politics. “He himself (Naveen Patnaik) is a product of dynastic politics. How can he oppose it now?” said Acharya.
BJD secretary Bijay Nayak justified the allotment of tickets, saying it had been done on merit.
“No one can deny the contribution of the Ghadei family to Sukinda or Singhdeos to Bolangir. Similarly, Usha Devi has also done a lot for Chikiti and now his son would also do likewise,” said Nayak, adding that parties like the BJP and the Congress too favour dynastic politics.
“Isn’t Dharmendra Pradhan a product of dynastic politics? What about Bhakta Charan Das and Narasingha Mishra who are promoting their sons in politics?” he asked.
Political analyst Prof Surya Mishra said that the phenomenon of dynastic politics is a relic of India’s feudal past.
“Though we became independent in 1947, several feudal traditions have remained. The kings perpetuated the dynastic rule by taking control of politics and this is being practiced by modern-day politicians. It is certainly not a good thing for the health of democracy,” said Mishra.