This tribal dominated constituency, a traditional Congress bastion, has Giridhar Gamang in the race for a 10th Lok Sabha term but his chances may be spoiled by none other than his wife who is contesting in an Assembly segment under the seat on a BJD ticket.
Gamang, whose vote sealed the fate of the 13-month-old Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1999, was pushed to the third place in 2009 in this seat which was won by BJD's Jayaram Pangi and led to Congress's first poll debacle here.
BJD has replaced Pangi with present Laxmipur MLA Jhina Hikaka, who was in Maoist captivity for over a month in 2012.
BJP's Siba Shankar Ulaka and five other candidates are also in the fray. BJP came second in the 2009 polls.
Though it appears that all three candidates have even chances of winning, political observers and locals feel this time things may turn out to be difficult for BJD in Assembly segment areas like Laxmipur, Koraput and Pottangi. In Jeypore, it is likely to be a tough fight between BJD and Congress.
The observers say BJD is on the backfoot in some areas including Laxmipur Assembly constituency as workers had revolted against party candidates.
BJD workers in Laxmipur have decided not to cooperate with Gamang's wife Hema. She joined BJD recently and the party gave her the Laxmipur ticket.
"Nominating Hema as the party candidate has not gone down well with BJD workers. They had even urged the party president to change Hema as she is an outsider," a local party leader says.
In Koraput Assembly segment, there seems to be resentment as BJD instead of fielding its sitting MLA Raghuram Padal has given ticket to a new face. Though party workers have not openly expressed their displeasure, senior leaders admitted that workers are divided over it.
