Kendrapara civic poll, an acid test for parties

BHUBANESWAR: Election to Kendrapara Municipality, scheduled for mid-November, is going to be an occasion for all the political parties to test the water ahead of the panchayat polls in February next year. While the Congress needs a win desperately in the election, considered crucial politically after the Assembly poll debacle in 2009, the BJD will pull out all the stops to ensure its domination. The BJP, which is on a revival path in the State after the setback in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls, will try to make its presence felt in the area. The fight will be mainly between the BJD and the Congress as the BJP does not even have a toehold in the town as the erstwhile BJP leaders have joined the regional outfit before the last Assembly elections.   Stakes are high for the State Congress and its president Niranjan Patnaik as this will be the first test for the new leadership. The results will provide an insight into to what extent the anti-Naveen campaigns, launched by the Congress and the BJP, have found favour with the people. Several senior Congress leaders, however, maintained that State issues will not have much of an impact on the local body election. Though the election is crucial for Niranjan, the result will certainly not reflect whether the party is turning the corner. A section in the party, however, said a victory at this juncture is necessary to boost the sagging morale of the party workers as the Congress has remained out of power for 12 years. The BJP is making a concerted bid to regain the lost ground in the State. Frequent visits of national BJP leaders to the flood-affected areas and the ongoing Jana Chetna Yatra of senior leader LK Advani are likely to galvanise the grassroots workers and impact the outcome.  The State Congress has already started pulling its socks up for the election. A committee at the district-level has already been constituted to select candidates and monitor the preparation for campaigning. Sources in the party, however, maintained that the bickering factions in the district Congress will have to bury the hatchet to upset the BJD’s applecart.