Now behind him, promise he made his Maoist captors

Hikaka, 39, was taken hostage by members of Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee in March 2012.

Two years ago, before Maoists released him from captivity that had lasted a month, Jhina Hikaka, then a youthful BJD MLA from Laxmipur, wanted to leave politics. At a praja court organised by Maoists, two days before his release, Hikaka was reportedly made to promise to bid goodbye to politics.

Hikaka, 39, was taken hostage by members of Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee at Tayaput village on Laxmipur-Koraput Road in March 2012 when he was returning to Laxmipur after attending a party meeting. His release came after the state government acceded to the Maoists’ demand to release 25 prisoners.

Now, during chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s whistlestop tour to Koraput, Hikaka says he has put the 2012 incident behind him — he is the BJD candidate for the Koraput Lok Sabha seat.

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“That’s the past. Why do you keep raking it up?” he asks after attending two rallies addressed by Naveen Patnaik Tuesday. “I never feared anyone till the abduction. My movements have been restricted since.”

Hikaka was asked to shift to the seat after party workers revolted against sitting MP Jayram Pangi. He is confident. “Everything has been achieved under the Naveen Patnaik government. As an MP, I will focus on livelihood programmes, skill development and technical education of tribal youths as well as eco-tourism.”

Dissidence within the BJD over the nomination of Pangi’s son and nephew from two assembly segments of the Koraput seat could work against him.

Hikaka’s main opponent is Giridhar Gamang of the Congress who was elected from here for a record nine times before losing to Pangi in 2009. Gamang insists he has not lost touch with the people.

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“Koraput has been a Congress bastion. The 2009 result was just a setback,” says Gamang, after the Semiliguda rally addressed by Rahul Gandhi. “I have kept in touch with people through my music troupe. Thousands attend my musical evenings.”

But Gamang has no new promise to make except speak of his past. “In 1993 when I was union minister for planning, I identified an irrigation project in Koraput under special category assistance. I was the first tribal development minister. I was also telecom and mining minister, but never made money illegally,” he says.

In Maoist-affected Narayanpatna and Laxmipur in Koraput, however, people are not impressed with either Gamang or Hikaka. “I never saw Gamang until he became CM in 1999. He was in Delhi while Koraput suffered,” says a paan shop owner in Laxmipur. In Narayanpatna, people wonder whether Hikaka will visit them after becoming MP as he has not come since he shifted to Bhubaneswar two years ago.

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