At a time when the Congress is showing definite signs of a revival of sorts after being in the doldrums since the crushing defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party unit in Odisha paradoxically appears to be possessed by a death wish.
The debilitating defeat in Bijepur, a seat won by the party three consecutive times even in the face of the seemingly unstoppable march of the BJD in the rest of the state, was symptomatic of all that is wrong with the Congress. As is its wont, the party leadership took an eternity to decide on the man who would replace Subal Sahu, the three-time MLA who died on September 22 last year, as the candidate even as the ruling party was quick off the blocks roping in Sahu’s widow and naming her the BJD candidate well in advance. Even the BJP, the other major contender, had made its move well ahead of announcement of the by-election roping in former BJD MLA Ashok Panigrahi. The BJD and BJP thus had a head start over the Congress even before campaigning got underway.