BHUBANESWAR: Political atmosphere in the Nabarangpur district has hotted up in view of the ensuing bypoll to the Umerkote Assembly constituency necessitated by the killing of sitting BJD MLA Jagabandhu Majhi. Even though the poll date is yet to be announced, political parties have started the process of selecting candidates. Congress bigwigs sounded the poll bugle by observing the death anniversary of former prime minister Indira Gandhi at Raighar. Orissa in-charge of Congress and former minister Jagdish Tytler, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik, Nabarangpur MP Pradip Majhi and AICC secretary in-charge of Orissa Mirza Irshad Baig attended the meet. The Congress on Monday received a shot in the arm when vice-president of the Nabarangpur Zilla Parishad from the BJP Manjula Majhi joined the party. While the senior leaders attended the meeting at Raighar in a show of unity, former MLA Parama Pujhari organised a separate meeting exposing the factionalism in the district unit. Sources maintained that the Congress will play the tribal card and field a candidate from the Gond tribe to checkmate the BJD. Pujhari, the Congress candidate in 2009 election, had finished third behind the BJD and the BJP candidates. Several prospective candidates from the Gond community are being considered by the Congress. They include Chaini Gond, a government head clerk, and former sarpanch Jatin Gond. Former chairperson of the Raighar panchayat samiti, Bhanumati Majhi, is also under consideration. Pujhari is also keen to fight the bypoll on a Congress ticket. The Congress leadership is, however, yet to zero in on a candidate, OPCC general secretary Arya Gyanendra said. He said the party will try to cash in on the resentment among the Gonds over Jagabandhu’s ‘functioning’. He was himself a Gond and the chairman of Dalit Samaj before merging the organisation with the BJD. The BJD ticket may go to Subas Majhi, the second-in command of the Dalit Samaj and the right hand man of Jagabandhu. Sources maintained that there is large-scale resentment in the district unit of the BJD against those who were close to Jagabandhu. Many leaders want that a new face be fielded by the party without having any link with the Jagabandhu group. The BJP, the party which had a solid base in the district before the last elections, will also play a crucial role.
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