In the midst of the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) humiliation in the Odisha assembly polls and the Lok Sabha election, the largest upset occurred in the Kantabanji assembly constituency on Tuesday. There, the BJP's Laxman Bag defeated BJD president and current chief minister Naveen Patnaik by a margin of more than 16,000 votes.
Early Life Laxman Bag
Bag was raised in a low-income farming family and made a living by helping truck drivers and working as a wage laborer daily. Later on, he invested in trucks and started a transport company. Bag, 48, combined all of his resources and used labor migration as the primary issue in the region as his main plan of attack on the BJD administration. He came in third in the 2014 elections and lost by a mere 128 votes to Santosh Singh Saluja of the Congress in the 2019 contest.
Patnaik's History In Kantabanji
After beginning the trend in 2019 by running from Bijepur in the western Odisha district of Bargarh, Patnaik, 77, ran from both his traditional seat of Hinjili in Ganjam district and Kantabanji. While Patnaik won by a little over 4,600 votes over his BJP rival, his victory margin was significantly reduced compared to 2019, when he won both seats.
Pattnaik's Lack Of Campaigning
Patnaik hardly campaigned in Kantabanji, known to be the gateway of migrant labourers from western Odisha to the brick kilns of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and the construction sites of Tamil Nadu. BJD leaders said Patnaik hardly campaigned because of the apprehension that the five-time chief minister may desert the seat after winning Hinjili.
Laxman Bag's Target
Every year, thousands of poor youths from the western Odisha districts of Kalahandi, Nuapara, Bolangir, Sambalpur, and Bargarh converge at Kantabanji railway station as they head for Hyderabad and Vishakhapatnam, hoping to pay off the loans that they have taken. Unfortunately, for the majority of them, the debt cycle never ends, and as a result, migration never stops.
Bag's Statement After Victory
According to the article by The Week, Bag stated this after his victory in Kantabanji against Naveen Patnaik. “There is unemployment, labour migration, a lack of education and healthcare infra. All these problems are going to end. A new beginning is going to happen as the new government will be formed on June 10.” “People did all that they had to do, and the Prime Minister will reciprocate. The PM will show the path of development,” he said. A few local BJP and BJD leaders said they were stunned by the scale of Bag’s victory.
“Though we knew he was ahead, we never expected him to beat Naveen Patnaik. This is unimaginable,” said Patnagarh MLA and BJP leader KV Singh Deo.
