Pradhan is leaving nothing to chances, however. Starting well ahead of his rival, he has already touched all the grampanchyats in this vast constituency spreading over four districts. Coloured posters of Vajpayee and Advani have occupied prominent places of towns and villages. The minister is also circulating a booklet in Oriya entitled `BJP promises Deogarh's development' listing his contribution to the constituency's growth during his ministership.

Moving in a Mahindra jeep, the minister has crisscrossed the entire constituency soliciting votes. The portly, soft-spoken politician tells his voters in Sambalpuri dialect about Kargil war and the Congress conspiracy to topple the Vajpayee government. At the same time, he also reminds them of the good works doneby him for the constituency during his 13-month tenure.

Pradhan, a qualified physician, prescribes medicines for any ailing villagers that he may meet. It is another matter that many of the medicines he prescribes have gone out of circulation.

He may have missed out on medical practice, but has definitely updated his knowledge about the constituency. Pradhan, who had won last time by a staggering margin of 1.05 lakh votes against Sri Ballava Panigrahi of Congress, is, however, not showing any signs of complacency.

"Things have changed since,", says Pradhan. "We have to be more careful this time."

Pradhan has reasons to worry. Besides the fact that he faces a formidable rival in Biswal, the change in the political equations in Deogarh makes the fight tough for him. His chief campaign manager in Pallahara assembly segment, Nrusingha Sahu, has turned hostile. Sahu, a former MLA who has deserted BJP recently, is now campaigning for the Congress. Former MP and Janata Dal leader, Rabi Pani, who had polled55,000 votes last time, has joined the Congress.

Pani's Hind Mazdoor Sabha and Congress' Intuc are controlling the 5000-strong Mahanadi coal field workers in the constituency. Worse still, CPI, which has some pockets of influence like Brajaraj Nagar, is officially supporting Biswal.

The Congress has made stability and `sugargate' scam its main poll issues in the constituency. "People had voted for non-Congress governments to rule for 20 years in the last 52 years. But they could rule for barely five years," Biswal tells his voters. "Only the Congress can form a stable government at the Centre," he asserts.

Two top Congress leaders -- Madhav Rao Scindia and Pranab Mukherjee -- have already addressed a series of election meetings in the constituency. A prominent tribal leader contesting the Lok Sabha election for the first time, Biswal has successfully roped in all the five Congress MLAs in the constituency.

What weighs against him, however, is the strong `Vajpayee wave' that appears to be sweeping theconstituency. The 60,000-strong crowd at Vajpayee's election meeting at Talcher, and the huge gathering at Brajaraj Nagar meeting of union I&B minister, Pramod Mahajan are indicative of the mood of the voters.

The electoral fate of the union surface transport minister and the state Congress chief will be decided when 11.68 lakh voters cast their votes on September 25.