Odisha: Will the youthful guns of Congress leave a mark in Jagatsinghpur?

The situation for Congress in the Jagatsinghpur district is unstable. The district, which was previously its stronghold before the BJD assault started 25 years ago, has seen a shattered foundation due to the departure of several big names and the unwillingness of popular leaders to run for office.

Important figures like Bapi Sarkhel and Chiranjib Biswal quit and joined the governing party, severely hurting the Congress’s prospects in the Jagatsinghpur and Paradip seats. The rejection of former MLA Lalatendu Mohapatra to run for office from Balikuda was the double whammy.

The grand old party has no choice but to look for new and youthful candidates for important Assembly seats like Balikuda-Erasama, Paradip, and Tirtol due to the absence of senior officials. In the midst of a BJP tsunami that is now sweeping across BJD territory, will fresh blood make a mark in the forthcoming Assembly election?

In the midst of the dire situation, the senior Congressman and former minister Rabindra Kumar Sethy’s candidacy for the Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha seat seems to have given party leaders and workers optimism for rebuilding in all Assembly seats.

Himansu Bhusan Mallick is the party’s new nominee for the Tirtol Assembly seat. Mallick had run for the seat in the last election but was unsuccessful. He has shown tenacity and devotion, and his door-to-door campaign works in his favor. Nonetheless, the Congress party’s lack of support, bad reputation, and feeble grip both nationally and in the states may hinder his attempts.

Both Niranjan Nayak and Nalin Kumar Swain, a member of the Pradesh Congress Committee, are debutantes from Paradip and Balikuda-Erasama constituencies, respectively. The two contenders have a very difficult job ahead of them.

Although this was Swain’s first Assembly election, he claims to have expertise in panchayat elections, having been instrumental in campaigns that saw the election of 11 sarpanchs, 9 panchayat samiti members, and 1 zilla parishad member.

“The electorate prefers new, energetic candidates over establishment figures who are disloyal to the party. He said, “I am optimistic about my prospects of winning the Balikuda-Erasama seat.

The great old party’s candidate for the Jagatsinghpur parliamentary seat, Sethy, is also optimistic. “The party’s vote share is significant in each of the seven Assembly seats. We would benefit from the BJD and BJP’s inability to keep their promises in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. People desire change, therefore I am optimistic that I will win as well,” he said.