The royal couple of BJP in Odisha fight: He to retake his bastion, she to retain hers

It isn’t a first for the Singh Deo couple though, having contested the same constituencies respectively for the BJP in 2019 too. While Sangeeta had won, Kanak Vardhan, the scion of the erstwhile Patna princely state, had lost from Patnagarh, after holding the seat for 24 years.

From 2000 to 2009, when the BJD and BJP were in a coalition, Kanak Vardhan had an easy run, with people in the area still feeling fealty for him as the “Maharaja”. He also managed key portfolios like Industries and Urban Development in the alliance government.

Vote share in the Balangir Lok Sabha constituency.

Kanak Vardhan’s prestige further grew when, in 2009, amidst a BJP rout in Odisha following its split with the BJD, he managed to retain his seat. He was among only six BJP candidates who won the Assembly elections that year.

The BJD failed to dislodge Kanak Vardhan in 2009 as well as 2014, despite roping in Prakriti Devi Singh Deo, another scion of the Patna royal family and the sister-in-law of Kanak Vardhan. In 2013, Kanak Vardhan was appointed Odisha BJP president and continued in the post till January 2016.

In 2019, finally, the BJD got its numbers right against Kanak Vardhan, finding the answer in caste. It fielded Saroj Meher, belonging to the Meher community that has significant numbers in Patnagarh. In an election where the BJP gained in strength in Odisha, though the BJD still swept the Assembly polls, Meher defeated Kanak Vardhan by 11,159 votes.

Since then, Kanak Vardhan, 67, has been more or less parked in the constituency, seeking to regain his lost ground, even distancing himself from state politics. The BJD has repeated its sitting MLA Meher from the seat.

Meher is not just facing a BJP that has grown stronger in the past five years, but also a candidate – the Congress’s Anil Meher – who may split his community’s votes. While the Congress is a shrivelled force in Odisha, in Patnagarh, it bagged around 15% votes in 2019. The narrow 2019 victory margin will also weigh on the BJD’s Meher.

What he will be counting on is that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik contesting from the adjacent Kantabanji Assembly seat will galvanise BJD voters in Patnagarh as well.

Sangeeta introduced her daughter to Modi during Balangir rally. (Express)

BJD star campaigner and Patnaik’s aide V K Pandian campaigned for Meher recently. On the BJP side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Amit Shah have campaigned for both Kanak Vardhan and Sangeeta.

Ramachandra Suna, a voter in Khaprakhol, says: “The fight is mainly between the BJD and BJP in Patnagarh… but the votes the Congress gets will be a deciding factor.”

Siba Prasad Panda, a retired teacher in Patnagarh, says: “The Maharaja used to command respect among a majority of the voters, irrespective of what he did for the constituency… He is a good human being and remains connected to the people, which helped him win from 1995 till 2019.” This time though, Panda adds, the fight is tough.

Apart from the Mehers, the Patnagarh seat has a significant number of Kulta and tribal voters, the latter concentrated in the Khaprakhol block. While the Kulta votes are seen as divided, the BJD hopes to consolidate tribal votes because its Rajya Sabha MP Niranjan Bishi has a strong hold over the region.

Sangeeta has also had a good run in the Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency, having won it four times so far – 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2019. In 2009 and 2014, though, she lost to her brother-in-law Kalikesh Singh Deo, a scion of the erstwhile Balangir royal family, fielded by the BJP. Sangeeta got just 13.28% of the votes in 2009, and 22.34% in 2014.

This time, Sangeeta, 62, is facing the BJD’s Surendra Singh Bhoi, a Congress turncoat, and former minister and actor-politician Manoj Mishra, who is the Congress pick for Balangir.

After losing in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Kalikesh is contesting Assembly elections now from the Balangir seat, which has been the bastion of his family.

While Kalikesh’s absence will be a breather for Sangeeta, CM Patnaik’s presence in nearby Kantabanji (which also falls under the Balangir Lok Sabha constituency) has cast a shadow.

On Friday, Sangeeta addressed a rally in Kantabanji, where she sought the people’s “blessings”, saying she is ready to present a ‘white
paper’ on what she has done for Balangir in the last five years.

Meanwhile, another Singh Deo is peeping over the horizon. Kanak Vardhan and Sangeeta’s daughter Nivritti has been by her mother’s side through the campaign. As has been her husband, Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, who is in turn the ‘prince’ of the erstwhile royal family of Udaipur in Rajasthan.