Odisha polls: Uncle-nephew fight in Jagatsinghpur LS seat

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, Mar 25:

Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha is all set see a direct fight between uncle and nephew this time. While the Congress has fielded sitting MP Bibhuprasad Tarai, who deserted CPI even though the left party had named him as its candidate for the constituency, BJD has nominated his uncle Kulamai Samal, a doctor by profession, to lock horns with his nephew. BJP has pitted Baidhar Mallick against the duo in the Lok Sabha seat.

Both Tarai and Samal belong to Mangarajpur, a small fishing village in the district. Though Tarai has been associated with the fishermen community as the secretary of Kalinga Karnadhar Kaibartya Solabhai Sabha (KKKSS), an organisation of local fishermen, Samal, being a doctor by profession, does not have much of a contact with his community members of the area.

However, Tarai is not in the good book of the members of the organization, who allege that the sitting MP has not done anything for them in the last five years of his tenure.

“We would vote for the person, who will work for us and development of the area,” said a leader of KKKSS.

Mangarajpur has 2,200 voters and the fishermen in this village mostly depend on Barunei, Mahanadi and Jatadhari river mouths.