Nominees eye labour vote, woo workers outside state

  • | Monday | 1st April, 2019

Political analysts said these programmes had been organized to woo Odia voters. They were very happy after Congress announced my name as a candidate for the parliamentary seat. “They generally come to the village on their own during Danda Nata, a popular and seasonal dance. The programmes had been attended by chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. They will come to their villages on their own and vote in favour of our party,” said Congress candidate for the Berhampur LS seat, V Chandra Sekhar Naidu.Kalyani Gajapathi, BJD candidate in Paralakhemundi, claimed that Odias of Gajapati district settled in Chennai would come to vote in favour of her party.

Berhampur: Migrant workers in Ganjam and Gajapati districts will play a role in different assembly constituencies and candidates of major political parties are reaching out to them.Around 15 to 20 per cent of the voters in these two districts work in different towns of the country, especially in Surat, the textile hub of Gujarat. The number of voters in 13 assembly segments in Ganjam district is around 28.46 lakh; of them, migrant workers form a large chunk of the vote bank in Polasara, Khallikote, Aska, Sorada, Hinjili, Bhanjanagara, Sanakhemundi and Digaphandi in Ganjam and Paralakhemundi in Gajapati district.“Lots of Odias, particularly from the Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency, work in Chennai and Hyderabad. They were very happy after Congress announced my name as a candidate for the parliamentary seat. They will come to their villages on their own and vote in favour of our party,” said Congress candidate for the Berhampur LS seat, V Chandra Sekhar Naidu.Kalyani Gajapathi, BJD candidate in Paralakhemundi, claimed that Odias of Gajapati district settled in Chennai would come to vote in favour of her party. Gajapati was a resident of Chennai before coming to Paralakhemundi a few months ago.Before announcement of elections, K.Narayan Rao and Tirupati Panigrahy, a BJP leader and an Independent, respectively, in the Paralakhemundi segment, had wooed migrant workers of their area in Hyderabad and Chennai.“Every vote is important to win the elections; the candidates, irrespective of their party affiliations, are in touch with the labourers. They are trying to bring them back, hoping that their votes would help them to win,” said Sudhir Sabat, an activist.Ashok Nayak, a supporter of Srikant Sahu, BJD candidate of the Polasara assembly segment, however, denied making an effort to bring back labourers. “They generally come to the village on their own during Danda Nata, a popular and seasonal dance. After completing the Danda Nata, on Visubha Sankranti on April 14, they return to their work place,” he said.This time, they will stay for some more days for Berhampur Thakurani Yatra and the elections, which will be held in two phases on April II and 18 in the district, he added.Much before the elections, BJD and BJP had organized Odia cultural programmes in Surat. The programmes had been attended by chief minister Naveen Patnaik and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Political analysts said these programmes had been organized to woo Odia voters.

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