National - Elections 2004   

It's royalty all the way

Anang Uday Singh Dev

Aarti Dhar

BOLANGIR, ORISSA

Dynastic rule appears to be the order of the day in the most backward region of Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput in western Orissa. This is evident from the number of people from the Singh Deo family, which ruled the erstwhile princely state, who are contesting for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The two time-Member of Parliament, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, is contesting from the Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency for the third time on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. Her husband, Kanak Bardhan Singh Deo, the Industries Minister in the Naveen Patnaik Government, is seeking re-election from the Patnagarh Assembly segment in the Bolangir district on the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket. Mr. Kanak Bardhan Singh Deo is the grandson of the former Orissa Chief Minister, Rajendra Narayan Singh Deo.

Mr. Kanak Bardhan Singh Deo's uncle, Anang Uday Singh Deo, who was the Steel and Tourism Minister in the Government, is also seeking re-election from the Bolangir Assembly seat. This time, his son, Kalikesh Singh Deo, has been given the ticket by the BJD to contest from the Saintala Assembly seat. Here, he will have to face a stiff contest, one in which a BJP rebel candidate, who was denied a ticket, is also in the fray.

"This is not dynastic rule as projected in the media, but a tradition of working for the people," says Anang Uday Singh Deo of the BJD. He says the fact that the ruling BJP-BJP combine held elections a year before schedule reflects its confidence in winning the polls. "Our party has done a lot of development work and the State Government has released a lot of funds for the development of KBK under the Western Orissa Development Council, which will cover 35 constituencies and remove regional imbalances,'' he says.

Dismissing the demand for a separate State carved out of the region, Mr. Singh Deo said although a few legislators were raising the issue, there was no real movement in its favour. "People don't want a division of the State because we have done positive work," he maintains.

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