Aspirants galore for Cong tickets in Kalahandi

The Pioneer, 14th March, 2009

Bikash Khemka Bhawanipatna

For the coming Lok Sabha polls there are as many as 13 aspirants from the Congress for Kalahandi LS seat. As for the Assembly elections there are around 97 ticket-seekers for the five constituencies in the district.Former State Minister Bhupinder Singh, an aspirant for the Congress ticket for the Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat, had lost the Assembly elections three times from Kesinga and once from Junagarh in Kalahandi district. But he also has the record of winning from Kesinga three times.Another Congress aspirant for the Kalahandi parliamentary seat, former Union Minister Bhakta Charan Das had won the parliamentary polls from Kalahandi on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989. He had lost the seat on a SJP ticket securing the third position in 1991. He had also contested from Dharmagarh and Kesinga Assembly constituencies on a Samata Party ticket in the 1995 polls but lost in both the seats. He had, however, won on a Samata Party ticket by a margin of 33,000 votes in the Lok Sabha elections in 1996. Thereafter, Bhakta Das contested as a Congress candidate in the 1998, 1999 and 2004 polls but was defeated all the three times by his BJP rival Bikram Keshari Deo. Subash Nayak, another Congress aspirant, had won the Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket over the BJP candidate in 1991. He lost the next polls in 1996 to Bhakta Das. Yet another Congress aspirant this time, Jagannath Patnaik, had won as the Congress nominee in the 1984 parliamentary elections. But he lost in the 1989 polls. He also lost Assembly polls in 2000 and in 2004.Ras Bihari Behera had won as the Congress candidate in the 1980 Lok Sabha polls, is also another aspirant this time. When he was a Cabinet-rank Minister in the State, he was defeated by his JD rival in the 1990 Assembly polls.During his recent visit to Bhubaneswar, AICC in-charge of Orissa Ghulam Nabi Azad announced that those who have been consecutively defeated twice would not be given party tickets this time. If his statement is taken seriously, many new faces will be fielded in the district. Otherwise, many dynamic youth of the party, who are desirous of contesting the polls, would be left frustrated, according to indications.