Sambalpur’s High-Profile Clash: BJD’s Pranab Das Vs. BJP’s Dharmendra Pradhan (image-X/pranabpdas)

Odisha’s Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency is set to witness an intense clash between the ruling BJD’s general secretary, Pranab Prakash Das, against Union Education Minister and the BJP”s Dharmendra Pradhan. Das, the three-time MLA from Jajpur, Das is the second in command in the BJD.

Popularly known as Bobby, Das started his election campaign by paying respect to the presiding deity of western Odisha, Maa Samaleswari. The son of the late Ashok Das, Janata Dal’s popular leader in the 90s, Das stated that his father and sister had a 60-year-old relationship with Sambalpur. Jaynarayan Mishra, Sambalpur BJP MLA, had previously claimed that Das was an outsider as he hails from Jajpur district.

Like his father, who remained an MLA and never accepted a ministerial position, Das also remained out of Naveen Patnaik’s ministry, though he did serve as a minister for a brief time.

His rival, Dharmendra Pradhan, is the BJP”s Odisha face. Pradhan, a former Rajya Sabha MP, made his comeback to electoral politics after being nominated in the same constituency 15 years ago.

The unique feature of the Sambalpur constituency is that there is no particular party that claims a stronghold over it. In the last three elections, the constituency has had three different political parties in power. In 2009, Congress candidate Amarnath Pradhan won with 3 lakh votes. BJD’s Nagendra Pradhan wrested the seat from the Congress candidate by winning 3.5 lakh votes. In 2019, the BJP took the Lok Sabha seat with candidate Nitesh Ganga Deb, who won 4.7 lakh votes.

The Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency comprises Vidhan Sabhas such as Kuchinda, Rengali (SC), Sambalpur, Rairakhol, Deogarh, Chhendipada (SC), and Athmallik.