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Scions of royal family to take on commoners in Orissa
Descendants of the Maharajas continue to hold sway over Kalahandi and Bolangir, known for backwardness, poverty & starvation deaths.
Two Lok Sabha constituencies in the poverty-stricken Western Orissa and one in the central region -- Kalahandi, Bolangir and Dhenkanal, would witness the electoral battle between the scions of the erstwhile royal families and commoners in the ensuing poll.
Descendants of the Maharajas continue to hold sway over Kalahandi and Bolangir, the poorest of the districts in the country known more for backwardness, poverty and starvation deaths.
A cursory glance at the past records of the two seats would show that since the first general election in 1952, the members of the royal families had complete domination over Kalahandi constituency and Pratap Keshari Deo won the seat five times in a row till 1977.
Despite the projects undertaken by the previous Congress government at the Centre led by P V Narasimha Rao to develop the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput area, popularly known as KBK, Congress candidates did not have the fortune on their sides and it was the BJP, who had fielded the scions of the royal families, walked away with Kalahandi and Balangir seats in the last two Lok Sabha polls.
Bikram Keshari Deo, the younger son of P K Deo had won the Kalahandi seat twice in 1998 and 1999 and he was facing his old rival and former union minister Bhakta Charan Das of Congress this time also.
Das, a harijan leader who got into prominence for his movement in the eighties demanding better deal for Kalahandi, continued to fight on the same plank.
Poll observers say that the Congress candidate has improved his position compared to last election when he had lost by a whopping margin of over 1.16 lakh votes and the seat is likely to witness a tough fight this time.
A follower of former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar, Das has unleashed a high voltage campaign seeking votes to improve the condition of the backward district besides trying to utilise the BJP-BJD inter-party rivalry in some pockets.
Sensing that the undercurrent of anti-incumbency feeling might go against him, the BJP candidate was listing out his achievements during his earlier stint as the local MP. The two National Highways passed through Kalahandi, and irrigation facilities improved due to his efforts, B K Deo claimed.
The BJP clearly has the edge in neighbouring Bolangir seat from where Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, another descendant of the royal family, was trying her luck for the third time to pull off a hat-trick.
Pitted against former OPCC president Sarat Patnaik, Sangeeta, wife of the state Industry Minister K V Singh Deo, was much ahead of the Congress if poll campaign was any indication.
Despite Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's yatra touching the constituency, Congress campaign was still in a very low key with just three days to go before polling.
Only state party president J B Patnaik had held a few meetings in some segments.
Observers say that Congress could not capitalise the anti-incumbency feeling in its favour in this constituency.
Like Kalahandi and Balangir, Dhenkanal seat would see K P Singh Deo locking horns with BJD candidate Tathagata Satpathy for the third consecutive time.
Singh Deo, a veteran of many electoral battles since 1967, was trying his luck from this seat for the 11th time.
In 1999, Singh Deo had won by a narrow margin mainly because of the split in opposition votes due to the presence of rebel BJP candidate Rudranarayan Pani in the seat.
He had secured 41.19 per cent votes against 40.58 bagged by Satpathy last time.
But this time, the battle ahead appears to be tough with Pani, whom many expected to contest again, keeping himself away.
Pani was busy organising Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani's 'Bharat Uday Yatra' away from the hustle-bustle of electioneering in Dhenkanal parliamentary constituency.
Besides, the factionalism in the Dhenkanalh district unit of the Congress could hinder Singh Deo's prospects, say poll observers.
The younger son of former Chief Minister Nandini Satpathy and editor of the prominent Oriya daily 'Dharitri', Tathagata had captured the Dhenkanal seat in 1998 defeating Singh Deo for his short lived tenure in the lower house.
