Deo, scion of the Kalahandi royal family, is banking on the Vajpayee wave to enter the Lok Sabha the second consecutive time, while Das is trying to cash in on the Congress infrastructure and lack of coordination between the BJP and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

In the process, a host of issues, including Long Term Action Plan for KBK (Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput) districts and drought have come to the fore with each trying to exploit the situation. Deo, though, has the benefit of the Vajpayee factor, which Das is trying to neutralise by a spirited campaign. A two-time MP from here, Das won in 1996 as a Samata Party candidate entirely due to his charisma.

The Kargil victory has definitely caught the imagination of a section of young voters and is likely to benefit the BJP though Das also has a large following among the youth.

Das paid theprice for joining the Congress on the eve of the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, which he lost to Deo by over 1.2 lakh votes. While Deo polled 3,44,703 votes, Das got 2,24,789 votes, highest ever by a Congress candidate in Kalahandi.

Encouraged by the response to his campaign, Das says, ``People have accepted me as a Congress candidate this time and no section of the party considers me an outsider anymore.'' The district Congress office in Bhawanipatna is abuzz from 6 am till past midnight, unlike in other constituencies where party offices wear a dull look. Das has also fixed a gruelling schedule for campaigning 18 hours a day in the interiors.

Das, having a background of social work, has been highlighting the problems of the district as the convenor of the KBK cell of the Congress. He also organised a workers' conference at Bhawanipatna in January 1999 from eight KBK districts which was attended by more 50,000 delegates. However, the feel-good factor in favour of prime minister AB Vajpayee is discernibleall over the constituency. It is more pronounced in areas which have access to television.

On paper, however, the BJP-BJD combine looks formidable, representing six of the seven segments in the Assembly. The BJD, ally of the BJP in Orissa, has four MLAs, Duryodhan Majhi (Khariar), Bir Sipka (Dharmagarh), Roshni Singh Deo (Koksara) and Balabhadra Majhi (Narla).