By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 4, 2019: Political parties have fielded former bureaucrats in race for general elections in Odisha like never before.

While the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha constituency will witness a tug of war between a former IAS officer, Aparajita Sarangi from BJP and a former IPS officer, Arup Patnaik from BJD, Cuttack Lok Sabha seat will see Prakash Mishra, once Odisha director general of police taking on sitting Lok Sabha Member Bhartuhari Mhatab and Congress candidate Panchanan Kanungo.

Other former bureaucrats, including, Nalini Kanta Pradhan (ex-works secretary of Odisha), and Sarmistha Sethi (ex-Odisha administrative service officer) are also in the fray. Mishra is contesting for Cuttack Lok Sabha seat from the BJP, while BJD’s Pradhan and Sethi are contesting for Sambalpur and Jajpur parliamentary segments, respectively.

All these bureaucrats are facing polls for the first time and are facing internal revolt from their respective parties as the supporters feel that they have been imposed on them.

Arup is a 1979-batch IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre who joined BJD in April 2018 after his retirement in 2015. Sarangi, on the other hand, is a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre who took voluntary retirement while serving as a joint secretary in the Narendra Modi government and joined the saffron party last November.

Sarangi started her campaigning soon after joining the BJP, as did Arup, who was assure of the party ticket in advance by the BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik. Since Arup never worked in Odisha, Aparajita appears to have an upper hand as she was the commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and district collector of Khurda, under which this Lok Sabha seat falls.

She is known for her bold decisions, such as introducing a uniform dress code for teachers, during her tenure as the municipal commissioner and Odisha school and mass education secretary.

“People in Begunia (an assembly segment under Bhubaneswar LS seat) are rooting for change in Odisha this time. 19 years of neglect, corruption and goonda raj has resulted in stagnant socio-economic levels, lack of employment opportunities and farmer distress in this region. Begunia is ready for #ParivartanInOdisha (sic),” She wrote in a Twitter post.

The BJP will create history if she wins the polls, as the BJP hasn’t won this parliamentary seat till date.

On the contrary, Arup – former Mumbai top cop banks upon the popularity of Naveen Patnaik and the BJD. “As always, my main objective will be public service. During my time as a cop, I did just that; now, I look forward to taking on the huge responsibility of representing the people of this constituency,” he said.

However, both the candidates face Congress supported CPM leader Janardhan Pati, who is a master in canvassing public support. The CPM had won the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat thrice in 1977, 1989 and 1991.

Though the BJD has retained the seat since 1998, with Patasani getting elected to the Lok Sabha five times in a row – 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014, the party faces a herculean task to retain the seat, observers said.