BJD fields Sandhyarani from Korei with twin objectives

Jajpur : Korei Assembly constituency, which has been a stronghold of Biju Janata Dal in Jajpur district since 2000, is set for a triangular contest between BJD, BJP and Congress.

The constituency will go to polls on June 1.The BJD has fielded Sandhyarani Das, while former legislator and popular Odia cine star Akash Das Nayak is contesting on a BJP ticket. The Congress has fielded Bandita Parida, former chairperson of Vyas Nagar Municipality. While Sandhyarani is contesting the electoral battle for the first time, Parida had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election from Korei on a Congress ticket in 2019.

Akash was elected from the seat on a BJD ticket in 2014, but he was denied party ticket in 2019 and was replaced by Ashok Kumar Bal, who won the polls by defeating the BJP’s nominee.

Sandhyarani, mother of BJD’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das, has been fielded by the regional party replacing its sitting MLA Ashok Kumar Bal. The BJD has fielded Sandhyarani apparently with twin objectives. The first objective is winning the Korei Assembly seat is likely to be easy for her because the seat happens to be a bastion of the erstwhile Janata Dal when her late husband Ashok Das had won the seat for four times.

The second objective is in case of a defeat of her son Pranab Prakash Das, who is contesting from Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat, she would resign and pave the way for Pranab to contest from Korei in by-election.

Sandhyarani is confident of winning the polls. She said, “People are happy with Naveen government’s welfare schemes and I am confident of winning the election by a good margin.”

Akash, who is contesting on a BJP ticket, was a good organiser of the BJD and he quit the party after being denied a ticket this time and joined the BJP. Many senior and disgruntled BJD leaders and hardcore supporters of Akash, also followed suit.

Soft-spoken and amiable, Akash has remained connected with his constituency. The Congress nominee, Bandita, is a good organiser and she has a wide grassroots network in the constituency. She is banking on her local influence and anti-incumbency factor of the outgoing BJD MLA.