NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Rebels queer the pitch for both Congress and BJD-BJP

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneswar

Although the main fight is between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party-Biju Janata Dal combine, rebels from both the parties may well upset the parties' calculations.

Although the Congress has fewer rebels in the fray, it is nevertheless believed to be fighting a losing battle. Of its 25 rebels, 21 have been expelled. The BJP has 41 rebels, while the BJD has 52.

Such a large number of rebels is unprecedented in Orissa. The BJP's state unit president Manmohan Samal, for instance, finds the pitch queered against him by the presence of a rebel. Samal is in such a panic that he even got Prime Minister A B Vajpayee to campaign in his constituency.

Samal is in deep trouble, since he is unable to tour the other parts of the state in his capacity as BJP president, tied down as he is to Dhamnagar. Challenging him is the BJD rebel, Manas Mallick.

Cabinet Minister for Energy Niranjan Patnaik is also in trouble; although he is officially pitted against the BJP's Akshaya Mishra in Ramachandrapur, the BJD's rebel Badri Patra has thrown the gauntlet before him.

Another rebel, this time the BJP's Padmacharan Haiburu, has managed to cash in on the popular support enjoyed by Dara Singh, and is challenging the alliance candidate Raghunath Hembrum in Karanjia.

Congress rebels have also come up-front in these assembly polls. Prominent among them are Raghunath Patnaik from Jeypore, Sharada Nayak from Rourkela and Umaballav Rath from Puri. Patnaik, a senior Congress minister, resigned from the party and filed his papers as an independent after being denied a ticket, and all indications are that he will upset his party's calculations.

Similarly, Sharada Nayak has come up tops in Rourkela while opposing his party's official nominee Prabhat Mahapatra, the sitting MLA. Nayak, who was Youth Congress district president here, commands impressive support, which seems undiminished even by Vajpayee's visit.

In Puri, which is seeing a ten-cornered contest, Congress rebel Umaballav Rath is being backed by the powerful former deputy chief minister Basant Biswal thanks to which party nominee Bipin Dash is finding the going difficult.

Similarly, Chandrasekhar Sahu, Congress rebel in Berhampur, too has an edge over other contestants.

If the rebels are able to realise their potential for mischief, they will end up playing a crucial in the formation of the next government.

Patkura, bastion of expelled BJD leader Bijoy Mohapatra, is witnessing an interesting tussle. Although effectively kept out of the electoral fray by BJP president Naveen Patnaik, Mahapatra has thrown his weight behind the Trinamul Congress's Trilochan Behera who has suddenly become the local favourite.

Mohapatra, who represented Patkura for two decades, took out a motorcade over the weekend, and as he rode the open jeep at the head with more than a thousand motorbikes ,cars and jeeps following him, the crowd response must have warmed the cockles of his heart.

Mohapatra also received unexpected support from the BJD MP from Kendrapara, Prabhat Samantray, who has openly criticised his party chief for expelling the former.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report