Bhubaneswar: Kendrapara, the ‘Karmabhoomi’ of late Chief Minister and legendary leader Biju Patnaik, is still faithful to the Biju Janata Dal. The people of Kendrapara have once again proved that they are with the party and their leader is Naveen Patnaik. The 2019 elections in Kendrapara will be remembered for years as one of the most watched.
Known as the Biju Janata Dal’s bastion, Kendrapada has been with the party for long. But this time the situation was different as BJD’s ousted leader Baijayant Jay Panda contested on a BJP ticket. The two times Lok Sabha MP from Kendrapara, Baijayant used his men, machine and resources to retain the seat. But the people of Kendrapara had made up their minds. They have seen the deceit of Baijayant. In the name of welfare of the people, Baijayant used his position for his own welfare. His false tirade against Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also backfired and Baijayant had to eat the dust. He even managed to bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi to campaign for him but it became ineffective. BJD candidate Anubhav Mohanty gave a check mate to Baijayant and proved that party supremo Naveen Patnaik’s decision to field him was the right choice.
The Matinee Idol cum Rajya Sabha MP Anubhav Mohanty successfully won the seat by defeating Jay Panda with more than One Lakh Fifty Thousand votes. Ahile Anubhav got more than 6 lakh 28 thosand votes, Panda got about 4 lakh 76 thousand votes. The congress candidate from the seat, Dharanidhar Nayak got just one lakh 13 thousand votes to remain in the third position.
In all the six assembly segments that went for polls under the Kendrapara parliamentary constituency, the BJD has won comfortably. In Salipur, Prasant Behera of BJD won the assembly seat by defeating Prakash Chandra Behera of BJP with a margin of more than thirty thousand votes. In Mahanga, senior BJD leader and minister Pratap Jena too won with a margin of more than 35 thosand votes. He defeated Sarada Prasad Pradhanof the BJP. In Kendrapara assembly constituency minister Sashibhusan Behera won with a margin of 6 thousand votes from Ganeswar Behera, a strong Congress opponent. In Aul, senior leader Pratap Keshari deb defeated his Congress rival Debendra Sharma with more than 50 thousand votes. In Rajanagar, Dhruba Charan Sahu won with a comfortable 17 thousand votes by defeating Congress candidate Ansuman Mohanty. In Mahakalapada, senior leader and minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak defeated his BJP rival Bijay Pradhan with more than fifteen thousand votes. Elections for the Patkura assembly constituency were postponed after the death of senior leader and BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwala.
The voting pattern in the Kendrapara parliamentary constituency shows that the BJD has successfully decimated the Modi wave that swept the nation. Also, the congress has also been failed in keeping intact its voters. The people of Kendrapara know that it is the charismatic leadership of Naveen Patnaik, which can give good governance. The intelligent voters kept themselves away from the false propaganda and voted for true Biju legacy.