Rudra Pratap Maharathy wins the race: Retains Pipili Assembly Constituency with BJD

wp:heading {"level":1} /wp:heading Pipili, Oct 3: Amid a tough speculation regarding the inference of Pipili by-election, Rudra Pratap Maharathy won the election on Sunday. He defeated the candidates of oppositions BJP and Congress with a high margin and retained Pipili Assembly Constituency again with BJD. Rudra Pratap Maharathy, the son of late Pradeep Moharathy stepped into fore politics for the first time and staggered thumping victory in the by-poll. He achieved  tremendous success over the senior BJP leader Ashrit Pattnaik and Congress leader Biswakeshan Harichandan Mohapatra,  securing 96,972 votes in his favour. On the other hand, the BJP candidate bagged 75,056 votes and Congress affiliated candidate Biswakeshan got 4,261 number of votes in the by-poll conducted on September 30. Rudra Pratap’s father, Pradeep Maharathy who was once upon a time, started his career from student union politics of Samant Chandrasekhar College, Puri , entered the main stream of politics in 1985.He joined Janata Dal ,being inspired by Biju Patnaik and represented Pipili Assembly Constituency with absolute majority, defeating a score of veteran leaders of the National Congress. His organizing efficiency in the grass-root, peering influence and intimacy with the common men made him a staunch follower of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik. As a result, he was blessed some key positions in the party. After the death of Biju Patnaik, Maharathy joined Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in 1997. Since then, he has been in power holding different party positions and portfolios. Subsequently,he became one of the key members of Naveen Patnaik’s Cabinet and  became Agriculture Minister from 2011-2012 and was made Minister again between 2014 and 2017, holding  some pivotal departments. Notably, Pradeep Maharathy  won 7 general elections with high scores from the Pipili Assembly Constituency, contesting from the Janata Party and the Naveen led BJD throughout his political career. However, he was defeated in the general election in 1995 from Congress. Still, he was not detracted from politics. Rather, he analysed his lapses behind his failure and remained with the people of the constituency. He withstood for the next election and won Pipili seat once again. Since then he has never seen a sunset in his political life rather won the confidence of the denizens, defeating the strong Congress supported candidate again and over again. However, the valiant leader succumbed to Covid-19 on October 4, 2020 all of sudden and the MLA chair of the Pipili castle was left vacant. Subsequently, the Election Commission declared by-poll for Pipili and the Major parties including the BJD, Congress and  the BJP declared their candidature. At the same time,BJD fielded Rudra Pratap Maharathi as a legacy of the untimely demised Pradeep Maharathy for Pipili to beat the contesting ten candidates,those who landed to the field of the by-poll. Ultimately, Rudra Pratap acquired the Pipili Assembly Constituency, securing 20,916 more votes from the contesting BJP candidate Ashrit  Pattnaik,retained his father’s regime and made the seat bound with the BJD once again.