By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Call it side effects of COVID-19 and Enemies turning into Friends for a greater interest after Pratap Keshari Deb and Debendra Sharma joined hands. The worldwide wake up against the dreaded decease, which uniting rich and poor together to fight back, has also have a little impact on, one of India’s affected eastern State of Odisha’s politically sensitive coastal district of Kendrapara’s political scenario with two long time political enemies joining hands and turning into good Samaritan for the Foreign Returners of this Distracts, particularly, for the meticulously trained plumbing workers and contractors of Aul and Rajkanika under Assembly Segment presently held by BJD’s Pratap Keshari Deb, who now on his 4th term in State Assembly from this seat.
Sitting BJD MLA Deb was recently came under criticism for vandalism and attack on attending Doctors at Aul CHC by BJD District general secretary Pradyumna Dash and others, who happened to be husband of sitting Block Chairman of Aul, Jharna Dash and well as close aides of Deb. Paddu Dash has been on run while Police arrested two other accused Jamal Khan and Raju Behera of Aul Muslim Basti and Giribandha villages respectively under Assembly segment.
With Aul-Rajkanika, which houses Odisha’s best quality pluming workers, apart from other areas of the district like Rajnagar, Pattamundai, Mahakalpada, Patkura and Kendrapara Town, but former Congress MLA Debendra Sharma aka ‘Dhhaba’ and BJD’s sitting MLA Pratap Keshari Deb aka ‘Sana Babu’ belying political commentators , proved a point, too, that both have serious for the Assembly segment in this crisis.
Sources said both MLA Deb and Former MLA Sharma jointly met Kendrapara Collector Samartha Verma and requested him to take necessary steps for the foreign returners, so that the administration and locals could jointly arrest the spread of this dread outbreak killing tens of thousands across the Globe including affecting 2 in Odisha till today.
“As many from Kendrapara, particularly from Aul and Rajkanika blocks working in Gulf, South-East Asian and other Western Countries, both Deb and Sharma did a commending job by joining hands together, it has sent a strong message that , in the time of crisis, there should be no politics,” added a Kendrapara Veteran known to both Deb and Sharma, in Bhubaneswar.
Since past 2 decades both Deb and Sharma fighting each other for the prestigious Aul Assembly seats earlier represented by stalwarts like Raja Saheb late Sarat Deb, his wife Rajamata Sushree Debi, who later became a Rajya Sabha MP from BJD for her close proximity with late legendary Biju Babu, but her late husband Raja Saheb was a MP in Lok Sabha from Kendrapara, while the scion of Aul Royal Family, sitting MLA Deb won the seats for 4th times including a Hat-Trick from 2000 to 2014 , also a Berth in Naveen Patnaik’s Cabinet, and lost the polls in 2014 and again bounced back with a thumping victory over 53,000 margin in last polls held in April 2019.
While Sharma, who remained a long time Congress Kendrapara District president as well as close aide of late, JB Patnaik and Lulu Mohapatra, had won the seat only once in 2014, that largely attributed to sympathy factor because of his father and former Aul MLA Dr Dibakarnath Sharma’s untimely demise just few days prior to the voting.
Few months back Congress leader Sharma had taken an anti-corruption rally from Aul-Kanika to Bhubaneswar highlighting Pratap Deb’s failure in last 20 years while the sitting MLA Deb, unlike others, never used stiff statements against his political opponents like Sharma.
Deb, Sharma made their presence felt through their networks at a very young age while the BJD’s sitting MLA Deb, has a strong family back ground with strong backing from Party boss and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Pratap Deb’s close proximity with Naveen Niwas, the residence of late legendary Biju Babu , was a point to establish , when Naveen appointed him as one of key the Spokesperson of Party, next Chairman, Odisha State Housing Board , then the most converted , Rajya Sabha MP soon after he lost Assembly polls in 2014 to Congress’s Sharma, totalling his Aul Royal Family’s reach to Parliament at 3 including his late ‘Great Father’ , who was in Lower House, and an ailing mother ‘Rajamata’ Sushree Debi, who now staying away from politics, was in Upper House.
Not last and the least, recently, Deb conducted Organisational polls of BJD as the State Returning Officer. Sharma’s late father Dr Dibakarnath Sharma was a former MLA.
