It’s the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat, the political nerve-centre of western Odisha, that has drawn added attention of all than the remaining 20 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in Odisha. The high-octane parliamentary polls in Sambalpur are being keenly watched as BJP heavyweight and Union Education Minister is waging a battle in direct electoral politics after 15 years’ hiatus.

Pradhan had plunged into direct polls a decade-and-a-half back and won the Deogarh Lok Sabha seat. Since then, he has represented Rajya Sabha from different States.

The poll fight, according to observers, will be between Pradhan and Biju Janata Dal organising secretary and Odisha Chief Minister’s close confidante Pranab Prakash Das. Both Pradhan and Das are outsiders in Sambalpur, where regional pride and identity often takes centre-stage in local politics. While Pradhan hails from industrially-rich Angul district, Das is a native of Jajpur district, rich in mining resources and industrial infrastructure.

The Congress has fielded Nagendra Pradhan from the seat which he earlier represented on a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket in 2014. If ground-level feedback trickles, Congress candidate Pradhan is lacking way behind the high-voltage electioneering of the BJP and the BJD. In 2019, BJP’s Nitesh Gang Deb, who was denied ticket this time, won the seat by around 10,000 votes.

For both the BJP and the BJD, now locked in an intriguing race to relegate one another to political background in State’s politics, stakes are high with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and BJD supremo apparently bent on upsetting the BJP’s applecart in Sambalpur.

Pradhan, who has left no stone unturned in extensively covering the seven Assembly segments coming under the parliamentary constituency, banks on PM Modi’s charisma and grass-root cadre base of the party to come out victorious in the polls. It’s a crucial poll battle for the incumbent union minister to keep intact his hold and relevance in national politics,

Nomination of three-time MLA Das in Sambalpur battleground is perceived as a strategic move by BJD President Patnaik. Das, being the regional party’s organizational secretary, was in constant touch with party leadership and workers much before the polls. This, according to BJD circles, is coming in handy to revitalise the party unit and campaigners. Das, who is making electoral debut for Lok Sabha polls, pinned the hope that his party will win the seat because of Naveen Patnaik’s popularity and series of development works implemented by the State Government in western Odisha.

For both Pradhan and Das, the principal contenders in the polls, stakes are high. With voters largely maintaining silence on their choice of leader to represent them in the Lok Sabha, it’s early to judge the winnability prospects of candidates in the fray.