ROURKELA: Will the winds of change rock the Congress bastions of Talsara and Rajgangpur Assembly segments in the local body elections? Keenly fought contests in the 13 Zilla Parishads (ZP) would determine the strength of the Congress even as the BJD has made aggressive inroads and the BJP is moving ahead, though at a snail’s pace. Except the 1995 election, the Talsara seat was retained by late Gajadhar Majhi from 1980 to mid-2006. Majhi’s death saw his son-in-law Prafulla Majhi wining the 2006 by-poll and in 2009. After delimitation of constituencies, the ZP seats rose from six to seven. Out of the erstwhile six seats, Congress secured four while BJP and BJD shared one each.While Majhi claims sweeping results in all ZP constituencies, party insiders confide that it is facing a direct fight from BJD and it would be hard to retain the four seats as poll equations of two ZP seats in Balishankara block and one each in Lefripara and Subdega blocks are very hazy.In Rajgangpur Assembly constituency, the Congress emerged strong since 2004 when sitting MLA Gregory Minz beat BJD strongman and four-time MLA Mangla Kisan. He again won in 2009 beating BJD’s Benedict Tirkey. It has six ZP constituencies and three went to Congress in 2007. Minz now hopes to win at least five ZP seats. However, the party faces tough challenge here too and its seat share may further dip.Congress’ prospects are bleak in two seats of Rajgangpur block and one each in Kutra and Lathikata blocks. While in Kutra (A) and (B) ZP seats independent candidates would be a botheration, in Lathikata (A) ZP constituency the BJP would be the game changer.Meanwhile, Congress hopes to do better because of the alleged infighting between Kisan and BJD Minister Sarada Prasad Nayak.
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