Nihar, Dilip Ray’s apprentice, protests

Leader of the BJP Nihar Ray has launched an insurrectionary banner against the saffron party’s selection of Dilip Ray as its nominee for the esteemed Rourkela Assembly seat.

Hundreds of Nihar’s fans gathered in front of his Basanti Colony home on Wednesday night, shouting slogans in favor of his candidacy against Dilip’s.

Former Dilip protégé Nihar ran for office in Rourkela on the BJP ticket in the 2019 election, but she was defeated by Sarada Prasad Nayak of the BJD by a margin of 10,430 votes.

“I have spent the past ten years as a member of the BJP. Following my loss in the 2019 election, I put a lot of effort into strengthening the BJP organization in Rourkela and putting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government’s welfare and poverty-relief policies into action at the local level. Nihar said, “I feel betrayed, sad, and hurt.”

In 2019, the BJP leader said that Dilip had unintentionally hurt his chances. The former Union minister, being a powerful political figure, had supposedly promised him a BJP ticket this time. Dilip, however, emerged as the Rourkela party candidate.

Nihar, using a derogatory comparison to Dilip’s treatment of him, said that he would discuss the matter with top Sundargarh district leaders and state BJP president Manmohan Samal. The unhappy leader hinted in a subdued manner that he would make his next move in a few days after consulting with his followers.

Latika Patnaik, the district head of the BJP’s Panposh organization, brushed off the event and said that disappointment among those who don’t get tickets is typical in all political parties. She hoped that there would be a peaceful resolution to the problem.

There were two formidable BJP candidates in Rourkela before to Dilip’s stunning comeback, according to sources. Nihar was one, and Dhiren Senapati, the state spokesman for the BJP, was the other. According to BJP sources, the animosity was so great that neither the Nihar nor Dhiren camps would have accepted the other’s nomination.

As a protégé of Dilip, Nihar was initially nominated as chairman of the former Rourkela municipality in the early 1990s, beginning his turbulent political career. He went to the Janata Dal and BJD with Dilip. Following Dilip’s inauspicious exit from the BJD, Nihar trailed him to the Congress. In 2004, BJD’s Sarada defeated him as the Rourkela representative for Congress.

Nihar joined the BJP in 2008, the same year as Dilip did. He was not able to run in 2014 since Dilip won from Rourkela while running on a BJP ticket. After Dilip left the BJP in November 2018, Nihar ran as the party’s candidate in the 2019 elections but was unsuccessful.