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Berhampur—  a southern Odisha town in Ganjam district which is also known as the silk city of Odisha will witness a battle between two turncoats in the Lok Sabha elections.

 

The ruling Biju Janata Dal headed has fielded Bhrugu Baxipatra, who till last week was vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party Odisha unit while the BJP has put up Pradeep Panigrahy, who was expelled from the BJD, as its nominee for the Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency.

 

Panigrahpy, a three-time MLA from Gopalpur Assembly constituency was once a close aide of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and even looked after the Ganjam district affairs of the regional party, before being expelled from the BJD.

 

The Congress has fielded Rashmi Ranjan Patnaik for the Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency.

 

The Lok Sabha constituency was once a strong citadel of the Congress and even Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao had won from Berhampur in the 1996 elections.

 

Ganjam district has been a BJD bastion since 2009. The district is also the home district to Naveen Patnaik’s Assembly constituency, Hinjili.

 

Panigrahy was expelled from the BJD on charge of “anti-people activities” and was also arrested on alleged corruption cases by the Naveen Patnaik government.

 

The BJP candidate in his public meetings is telling the people Etha ra Leka Chhi Da e Deba (This time will end the chapter). The Gopalpur MLA is asking the electorate to end their inclination towards Patnaik, who he accused of running the government through outsourcing manner.

 

Panigarhy is also trying to invoke Ganjam sentiment among the people as his rival Baxipatra’s activities were mostly confined to the neighbouring Rayagada district before moving to Ganjam in 2019.

 

To defeat Panigrahy, BJD has picked up BJP’s former Berhampur nominee Baxipatra with the sole intention of capturing a certain portion of saffron votes. Both parties are fighting hard to win the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat, which is considered the gateway to southern Odisha.

 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections BJD candidate Chandrasekhar Sahu had won the Berhampur Lok Sabha by 94,000 votes defeating his BJP opponent Bhrugu Baxipatra.

 

Berhampur Lok Sabha seat will go to polls along with three other Lok Sabha constituencies Nabarangpur, Koraput and Kalahandi on May 13.