Sambalpur: BJD Swaps Candidates; Prasanna and Rohit Exchange Seats! One Move, Three Targets

Sambalpur: In Sambalpur, there was speculation about who would contest the Assembly elections from the Sambalpur and Redhakhol seats for the BJD party. Prasanna Acharya, a senior BJD leader and state vice president, did not want to contest from Sambalpur. Respecting his wishes, the Chief Minister changed the initial decision.

The Chief Minister announced that the candidates for these two seats have been swapped. Rohit Pujari, who was earlier nominated from Redhakhol, has now been nominated from Sambalpur instead. Prasanna Acharya, who was to contest from Sambalpur, will now contest from Redhakhol.

Sambalpur is a new constituency for Prasanna Acharya and Rohit Pujari respectively. Though Prasanna Acharya lost elections in his home district Bargarh previously, he had won from Redhakhol in the past and became a minister. Similarly, Rohit Pujari had won from Redhakhol and became the Higher Education Minister.

Prasanna Acharya did not have much support in Sambalpur, so he met the party leadership, explained his concerns, and requested to contest from Redhakhol instead of Sambalpur. The BJD state president accepted his request and swapped the constituencies for Prasanna Acharya and Rohit Pujari.

While Prasanna Acharya was pleased that his request was accepted, Rohit Pujari also did not object as he wanted to contest from the Sambalpur constituency for some time. Maybe he had a feeling about it.

To commemorate this decision, the BJD held a celebration in Sambalpur on Tuesday at a famous hotel.

This swap of candidates is seen as a strategic move by the BJD that addresses three concerns and creates problems for their rival BJP:

1) The BJP candidate had planned to portray Prasanna Acharya as an outsider in Sambalpur. But by withdrawing him from there, the BJD has nullified the BJP’s strategy of campaigning on local vs outsider candidates.

2) Since Prasanna Acharya and Rohit Pujari have strong support bases in Redhakhol and Sambalpur respectively, the BJD leadership feels it will be easier to win both seats.

3) Some groups had indirectly threatened to support other candidates instead of Rohit Pujari. By nominating him for Sambalpur, the BJD has asserted its authority and sent a message that going against the party’s decisions is unacceptable.