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Jockeying on in earnest for Orissa CM's post

Bibhuti Mishra in Bhubaneshwar

With the Congress Legislature Party meeting to elect a new leader scheduled for Monday, February 15, hectic horsetrading is on in Bhubaneswar.

Congress leaders Madhavrao Scindia and Pranab Mukherjee are to attend the legislators' meeting as observers and to help pick a chief minister to succeed J B Patnaik.

Already out of the race is Giridhar Gamngo, the adivasi MP from Koraput, and, rumour has it, Nandini Satpathy, the former chief minister. The remaining contenders are PCC chief Hemananda Biswal and deputy chief minister Basant K Biswal.

Hemananda Biswal, who was Patnaik's deputy before taking over as the PCC chief from him has the advantage of being a tribal leader from western Orissa. Enjoying a fairly clean image and, presumably, the backing of Sonia Gandhi who had him made as the PCC chief, Hemananda could pip the other Biswal to the post.

Basant Biswal though is leaving no stone unturned to become chief minister, even asserting he is willing to be a peon if Sonia Gandhi so demanded.

Biswal and his supporters are trying to win over MLAs to their side and a loyalist minister or Biswal told this correspondent that more than 40 of the 83 Congress MLAs were on his side.

One MLA, seen to be a fencesitter, said, "the going rate for crossing over to Basant Biswal's camp is Rs 10 lakh [Rs one million] now. it could go up in the coming two days. Some have been offered lucrative posts as ministers too."

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