PS members surface from hiding

SAMBALPUR: After virtually remaining under house arrest for about a fortnight, the newly-elected Panchayat Samiti members were allowed to move out and make purchases for their families before returning home on Saturday. The PS members holed in various small lodges here, were seen boarding vehicles along with their political bosses and local leaders and middlemen after lunch on Saturday. This, it is believed, was done to ensure their presence for voting for the post of block chairman on  scheduled for  Sunday.Though the election to the post of ward member and PS members are not held on party basis, yet they have a political undertones as the post of block chairman is a political one. Despite a beating at the polls to the post of Zilla Parishad (ZP) member, besides the BJD, which swept the polls of ZP, both the Congress and theBJP, are trying hard to establish their control over the post of block chairman to make their presence felt in the district.In fact, after the initial trends indicated that the BJD will lead the race, the Opposition parties were quick to extend support and financial help to contesting PS members as a quid pro quo for their loyalty for the block chairman post.Yet, not willing to take any chances and apprehending poaching by other parties, each party packed off its members to alien destinations to keep their flock together.While some PS members had brought their families along, including children, many had come single and the parties sponsored their boarding and lodging and other ‘necessities’. One of the PS members, preferring anonymity, revealed that they would be paid cash in addition to their cost of stay once the polls end.