Bhubaneswar: Once limited to the royal families of Odisha, the culture of dynastic politics now thrives in all the major parties of the state, cutting across the class divide. The top three parties in the fray this time — Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress — have fielded sons, daughters and wives of leaders keen on perpetuating the influence of their families in their respective areas.
Royals continue to be at the forefront of this dynastic drive to keep their family flags flying. The best example of this comes in the form of candidature of BJP veteran Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo and his wife Sangeeta Kumari Singhdeo from Patnagarh assembly seat and Bolangir Lok Sabha seat, respectively. Kanak Vardhan, the titular Maharaja of Patnagarh, is out to wrest the seat from the BJD to which he lost in 2019 after registering five successive victories since 1995. Sangeeta, the sitting BJP MP from Bolangir, would be locking horns this time with BJD’s Surendra Singh Bhoi and Congress’s Manoj Mishra, a popular name in Odia film industry who is making his debut in electoral politics.
Interestingly, Sangeeta’s erstwhile BJD rival on the Bolangir Lok Sabha seat, Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo, her husband’s first cousin, is this time trying his luck from the Bolangir assembly seat which his father A.U. Singhdeo, a former minister and Doon school mate of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, won five consecutive times in the past.
The BJP has also fielded Malavika Keshari Deo, wife of former MP Arka Keshari Deo, a member of the Kalahandi royal family, from the Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat. Arka Keshari Deo was elected to Lok Sabha from the Kalahandi seat in 2014 as a BJD candidate after the death of his father Bikram Keshari Deo, who won the seat thrice. However, he and his wife quit the BJD after being denied a party ticket in 2019 and joined the BJP in 2023.
Another royal in the fray on the BJD ticket is Chikiti MLA and minister Usha Devi’s son Chinmayananda Srirup Deb. The party has nominated him to contest the Assembly election from his mother’s seat.
The BJD, in fact, has been most liberal in rewarding the children of its senior leaders with party tickets. The party has so far given tickets to at least eight young leaders who happen to be the sons or daughters of either sitting or former MLAs. Most of these leaders would be carrying forward the legacies of their fathers who either passed away under tragic circumstances or fell out of favour with the party leadership following cases of alleged corruption against them. However, considering the clout they enjoy in their respective constituencies the party thought it wise to field their children this time.
“This way the party has been able to prevent possible revolt by leaders denied tickets and also use their influence to mobilise support for their children who are contesting the election. It is, thus, a good tactical move,” said political analyst Shashi Kant Mishra.
The most prominent among these young leaders — allotted BJD tickets to contest from seats once represented by their fathers — is Ankit Pratap Jena, son of former minister Pratap Jena who has a murder case pending against him. Similarly, the party has once again given tickets to Souvik Biswal and Debi Ranjan Tripathy, sons of two BJD stalwarts from Cuttack district. While Souvik is the son of Pravat Ranjan Biswal, Debi’s father is former MLA Pravat Tripathy. Embroiled in chit fund-related cases both the leaders were arrested by the CBI when the scandal broke out over ten years ago.
Keen on promoting second generation leaders, chief minister and BJD boss Naveen Patnaik has also given the party ticket to Rohit Joseph Trikey, son of former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA George Tirkey from Birmitrapur. George, who had a brief dalliance with the BJD after leaving JMM, has been trying hard to promote his son in politics. With Patnaik’s party making Rohit Joseph its candidate, his father is not only likely to soften his attitude towards the chief minister but also actively campaign for his son. Similarly, the chief minister has made Anil Barwa, son of former minister Mangala Kisan, the BJD candidate from Rajgangpur.
Patnaik’s party has re-nominated Pranab Balabantray and Preeti Ranjan Ghadai, sons of two former ministers, from Dharmshala and Sukinda assembly constituencies respectively. The BJD general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das, son of former Janata Dal veteran Ashok Das, a close follower of Naveen’s father Biju Patnaik, has been pitted against union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat. Bobby to friends and followers, Pranab Prakash Das is the third most important man in the BJD after chief minister and his Man Friday, bureaucrat-turned-politician V.K. Pandian. Anshuman Mohanty, son of former minister and Biju loyalist Nalini Mohanty was rewarded with a BJD ticket from the prestigious Kendrapara Lok Sabha after he quit the Congress and joined the regional party. The party has also favoured former minister Bijoy Mohapatra’s son Aravind Mohapatra with a ticket. He would be contesting from Patkura, the traditional seat of his father who was denied a ticket by the party in 2000 following differences with the chief minister. He could never win an election again.
Among the daughters who have been nominated from the constituencies once represented by their fathers is Dipali Das, who won the by-election to Jharsuguda Assembly constituency last year after the murder of her father Naba Das who was then health minister of the state. The BJD has again fielded her from the seat. Similarly, Brajarajnagar MLA Alaka Mohanty, who had won the bypoll following the demise of her husband Kishore Mohanty in 2022, has been repeated by the party from the constituency.
Congress veteran Suresh Kumar Routray’s bid to promote the fledgling political career of his son Manmath Routray, a former pilot, seems to have landed him in serious trouble. With junior Routray joining the BJD which has made him its candidate from the prestigious Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency the father is being accused by the state Congress leadership of campaigning for his son in gross violation of party discipline. The party, in fact, slapped him with a show cause notice recently. Popular as Sura Bhai in political circles senior Routray has sought to defend himself saying he has never formally campaigned for his son but he did not dissuade people from supporting Manmath if they wanted to. Manmath would be taking on sitting BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi in Bhubaneswar.
The Congress has also given tickets to the sons and daughters of its veteran leaders. Prominent among these are Samarendra Mishra, son of sitting Bolangir MLA Narasingha Mishra and Sagar Charan Das, son of former MP and minister of state for railways Bhakta Charan Das. Interestingly while Bhakta himself is contesting the Narla assembly seat in Kalahandi, his son Sagar is the Congress candidate from the nearby assembly seat of Bhawanipanta, thus making it a complete family affair. Similarly, former Congress MLA Bhujabal Majhi is contesting the Nabarangpur Lok Sabha seat while his daughter Lipika has been nominated as the party’s candidate for Dabugaon assembly seat.
While Abhinandan, the son of sitting Kalahandi MP Basanta Panda has been fielded by the saffron party from the Nuapada assembly seat, divided party loyalties are threatening to cause a rift in the family of former assembly speaker and Congress veteran Chintamani Dyamsamantray. The Congress has nominated his elder son Ravindra Nath Dyansamantray for the Chikiti assembly seat but he finds himself potted against his own younger brother Manoranjan who is the BJP candidate. It has, thus, become a battle between two brothers.
The fact is that almost every major party in the state has favoured dynasts with tickets this time apparently because they are considered to be safe bets. Senior BJP leader Golak Mohapatra sought to defend the party’s move saying it should not be construed as promotion of dynastic politics. “Leaders like Sangeeta Singhdeo and K.V. Singhdeo have been contesting elections on our party ticket for so many years and they have always delivered. They are established leaders and hence their nomination should not be seen as perpetuating the rule of a family,” argued Mohapatra who also justified party ticket for Kalahandi Lok Sabha MP Basant Panda’s son Abhinandan saying that having worked dedicatedly for the party for past so many years he deserved it. “Besides, we must remember that his father has been denied a ticket by the party this time,” remarked the leader.
