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For over two decades now, the politics in Kalahandi parliamentary constituency has been revolving around a few key leaders – Bhakta Charan Das of Congress, Pradeep Nayak of BJP and Puspendra Singhdeo of BJD.

This time is no exception as the three have been in the assembly elections fray.

According to political analysts, Kalahandi parliamentary constituency, like the previous editions, is poised to witness this time an interesting triangular fight involving a royal bahu, locally called Rani Maa; an energetic tribal woman and a strong grassroots leader hailing from the Other Backward Class (OBC) community.

Malavika Devi, the queen of Kalahandi who is locally known as Rani Maa, is contesting on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. She is pitted against Droupadi Majhi, a tribal woman. The parliamentary constituency has over four lakh tribal voters.

Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has fielded Lambodar Nial, an OBC community leader hailing from Gouda (milkman) community.

In the 2019 battle, the BJP nominee Basant Panda had wrested the seat from BJD. He defeated the BJD nominee Puspendra Singhdeo by a margin of 26,814 votes, considered a low one in a vast LS segment with around 15 lakh voters. Basant Panda got 4,33,073 votes (35.26 per cent) while Puspendra bagged 4,06,260 votes (33.08 per cent). Congress candidate Bhakta Charan Das, who is this time contesting assembly polls from Narla seat, had finished third with 3,19,202 votes (25.99 per cent).

The BJP dropped Basanta Panda this time and chose to field Malavika Devi, wife of former MP Arka Keshari Deo, with hope that the royal family’s long relationship with the party and the local people’s loyalty towards the loyal family, will fetch it good votes.

The Congress’ nominee Droupadi Majhi who served as chairperson of Thuamul Rampur block hopes her strong links with panchayat level workers will enable her to win the seat.

“I come from a grassroots political background. I was elected as Zilla Parishad member once and twice as chairperson of Thuamul Rampur block. My opponents do not have any links with the people living in villages. I’m pretty confident that people will bless me,” said Droupadi.

Kalahandi, which the ruling BJD claims has seen huge transformation in terms of overall development, is still reporting large-scale migration of farmers and farm workers to other states in search of jobs. Both the BJP and Congress have made this distress migration a major poll issue.

The BJD, on the other hand, is showcasing the irrigation network, infrastructure development and expansion of education and healthcare facilities as its contributions to the constituency. “Our party has done tremendous work in Kalahandi. This was once called Bhoka-ra Bhugola (a land of hunger). Now, it has turned into a green land with a massive increase in irrigation network.  Road infrastructure has developed a lot and an airport at Utkela has become operational,” says BJD nominee Lambodar Nial.

Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das told this newspaper that his party’s woman nominee Droupadi Majhi for Kalahandi LS segment is the carefully chosen face to counter BJP’s Malavika Devi.

“Droupadi can connect better with the people. She is a hard-working woman, who works for the people round the year and not during the election only. She will make a difference. Migration of people is a burning issue here apart from the slow pace of work of Junagarh-Nabarangpur railway line,” he said.

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Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population together constitute 46 per cent in Kalahandi. Most of the people's occupation is agriculture. Kalahandi LS seat comprises tribal-dominated Kalahandi and Nuapada districts. While Kalahandi district has five assembly constituencies, Nuapada has two.

“BJP will do even better this time. Kalahandi district is yet to see development in education and health sector as many of its counterparts have seen in recent times. For me, another most important work is the welfare of women farmers,” she said.

Kalahandi LS seat will go to polls on May 13.

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Addressing a 'Panna Pramukh' conference in Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur, Nadda said the Congress and its leaders want to divide the country in the name of language, region, and colour.

Slamming Rahul Gandhi's "special advisor" Sam Pitroda for making "racist comments on the people of India", Nadda asserted that Congress' political agenda is "nothing but dividing the country and the society".

"People with such thinking can only create division in India, they can only make bad attempts to disintegrate the country. It is clear that development work cannot be done by the Congress, they can only sow seeds of hatred in the society," said the BJP President, adding that Pitroda has once again tried to "embarrass India's diversity" after his earlier comments on 'inheritance tax' that aimed at "robbing the wealth and lifelong earnings" of the countrymen.

Nadda also said that while development work is being done under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there are people with anti-India thinking who are trying to divide the country with their north-south statements.

Nadda accused the Congress of talking about giving reservations to people of a particular religion even though it is clearly written in the Constitution that religion cannot be the basis of giving reservations in the country.

"Rahul Gandhi carries a copy of the Constitution, but he does not go through it. They only want to take away the rights of Dalits, backward and tribal communities by conspiring and taking away their reservation," he said.

The BJP chief also urged all the 'Panna Pramukhs' to spread the word about the good work being done by PM Modi and the government so that the party emerges victorious on all four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh. (IANS) 

The Union Minister addressed two public meetings in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts in Odisha today.

Rajnath Singh urged the voters to elect BJP candidates contesting in Koraput and Kalahandi Lok Sabha constituencies and the Assembly segments under these constituencies.

The BJP has fielded Malavika Keshari Deo and Kaleram Majhi in Kalahandi and Koraput Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

"I feel the situation in Odisha has changed a lot this time. Earlier, when we used to ask people as to how many seats BJP would win. They used to predict eight to ten seats for the BJP in Odisha. But, upon being asked the same question today, every citizen of Odisha is now saying that the BJP is going to win all the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha," Rajnath Singh stated.

The Defence Minister said that every citizen of India should get a pucca house, piped drinking water, toilet facilities, LPG cylinders and all these facilities have been provided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time since Independence.

"We will provide all these facilities to the brothers and sisters of Odisha, who have not received it yet due to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government, in the next five years as you are going to elect a BJP government here," Rajnath Singh said.

The senior BJP leader also targeted the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in Odisha over the non-implementation of Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state. Rajnath Singh assured that the scheme will be implemented in Odisha after the formation of the BJP government in Odisha and at the Centre.

"The BJP is the only political party in India that does what it promises. The leaders of BJD and Congress have given you many assurances but had they fulfilled the assurances, even partly, then Odisha would have been a rich state, not a poor one," Rajnath Singh said.

The Union Minister further said that the BJP removed Article 370, ensured the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, and ended the triple talaq system as promised. Taking a dig at the Congress, Rajnath Singh said that corruption increased manifold whenever the grand old party came to power despite their assurances to end corruption in the country.

Rajnath Singh said that only PM Modi had succeeded in ending corruption in India through 'Trimurti', the amalgamation of Jan Dhan account, Aadhaar and mobile phone.

The Defence Minister said that the image of India improved on the global platform under the BJP's rule.

He gave the example of the successful rescue of 22,000 students in Ukraine following the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rajnath Singh also mentioned that following PM Modi’s request, scientists of our country produced the vaccine against coronavirus.

Also Read: Modi’s Guarantee: Poverty To Be Fully Eradicated From India In Next 10-15 Years, Says Rajnath Singh

"India was at the 11th position in the world in terms of economic power during the ten year rule of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. However, India jumped to fifth spot from 11th position in the world after eight years of PM Modi's rule. The great economists of the world are now predicting that India will be the third-largest economy after the US and China by 2027," Rajnath Singh said.

The Home Minister claimed that the BJP government had given the utmost priority and respect to the tribals and it took the decision to celebrate Birsa Munda's birth anniversary across the country, not only in Jharkhand and Odisha.

Simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be held in Odisha in four phases, starting May 13. Polling is going to be held in Koraput and Kalahandi Lok Sabha seats on May 13. 

(With inputs from IANS)

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