Bhubaneswar, Nov, 18: The six-time Congress MLA from Jatni, Suresh Kumar Routray has already declared not to contest the upcoming election due to personal reasons. But a big question arises -who will be the successor of a veteran leader? Who will lead the Congress party in the Jatni constituency?
Though his second son Manmatha Routary is active in politics, he has refused to accept the Congress ticket. Even he declared publicly not to contest on Congress ticket.
On the other hand, three second-line party leaders' names have come up. Sangram Keshari Routray, nephew of Suresh Routray, ex-chairman of Jatni Municipality has shown interest in contesting the coming election. He had also independently contested the election in 2014 and secured more than 5,000 votes which caused the defeat of Suresh Routray in that election.
Ashok Mangaraj, President of the Jatni City Congress is also in the race. He has been serving the party for 30 years as a close associate of Suresh Routray. Ashok said “As a disciplined party worker, whatever the party decides I will abide to it”
Similarly, former state party secretary, Rasik Patnaik's name is rumored to get a ticket in this election. Apart from these names, other aspirants are also lobbying for the party ticket in the coming election.
In this situation, it all depends on Suresh Routray’s stand on who will be his successor in the coming election.
