Insight Bureau: Former Hindol MLA and Ex Minister Anjali Behera joined the BJP with her associates and many workers at the BJP headquarters in Bhubaneswar in the presence of Union Minister Dharemndra Pradhan and State Unit President Samir Mohanty. Around 2,000 workers from Dhenkanal and Angul districts too joined BJP, according the party sources.
Anjali Behera was elected to Odisha Assembly on a BJD ticket in 2000, 2004 and 2009. However, she was denied a ticket in 2014 and 2019. Seemarani Nayak replaced her and won the elections too. Anjali Behera was the Textiles and Handloom Minister in 2011-12.
Anjali has not been very active politically after being sidelined by the party. However, BJP grew in Hindol as the Congress weakened. In the 2019 election, BJP candidate Ashok Kumar Nayak polled 75,075 votes (40.69% of the total vote share). He happens to be Anjali’s brother. Seemarani Nayak had secured 93,980 votes (50.93% of the total vote share).
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The victory margin for BJD went down to 18,905 in 2019 from 50,499 votes in 2014 due to transfer of Congress votes to BJP.
It would be interesting to see if her brother Ashok Nayak will get the ticket in Hindol again or Anjali Behera would make a comeback. Political analysts term the move as ‘suicidal’ for the BJP in Hindol, as the party not only accepted the baggage from BJD but also disturbed the existing system that was doing well.
Interestingly, there was a time when BJP had demanded resignation of Anjali Behera in 2011 and sought a CBI probe in connection with the murder of Hindol Panchayat Samiti Chairman who was crushed to death.
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