BHUBANESWAR: BJD on Monday declared edu-entrepreneur Achyuta Samanta as its candidate from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat for the general elections. The tribal-dominated Kandhamal had made news for riots against Christians in the 2000s.Samanta, founder of the KIIT and KISS group of institutions, was sent to the Rajya Sabha by BJD in 2018. He has a strong following among tribals because of KISS, which offers free education and accommodation to more than 20,000 tribal students"I am very happy and grateful to BJD president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik for the honour. For the last 30 years, I have been working for the development of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe people. I now hope to carry on the same work right from the grass- roots level in Kandhamal to ensure their development," Samanta said.Experts said Naveen played a tribal card by fielding Samanta in Kandhamal as the parliamentary constituency seat is an unreserved seat though tribals form a sizable population of it. Similarly, for Samanta the 2019 Lok Sabha election is an opportunity to enter into direct politics."Naveen has been very calculative in selecting Achyuta Samanta for Kandhamal seat. Samanta has a pro-tribal image for his social work. He is soft spoken, has a clean and non-controversial image and has acceptability among both the Hindus and Christians," Surya Narayan Mishra, political analyst and former political science professor of Utkal University, said.Samanta has started work in the constituency for the last few months and had recently laid the foundation of a branch of KISS only for Christian boys and girls at Simanbadi near Daringibadi in Kandhamal district. "The CM wants to pay special attention to Kandhamal district. I am sure I will fulfil the hope and trust that he has reposed in me ," Samanta added.Sources said BJD was in search of a new face for Kandhamal. The constituency has been a BJD strong hold where the party won in 2009 general elections despite polarisation following the murder of Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in 2008 and also in 2014. In 2014, BJD candidate Hemendra Chandra Singh won with a sizable margin but after his untimely death BJD fielded Singhs wife Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh who retained the seat in a by-election.

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