Puri: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan here on Monday put the ruling BJD on notice by saying that a wave of change was visible in Odisha.
During his visit to Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri a day after being nominated as BJP candidate for upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Sambalpur seat, Dharmendra said: “People’s faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee is increasing day by day. The wave of change is clearly visible in Odisha. A double-engine government in Odisha is inevitable.”
He added that they would visit every household and apprise people about PM Modi’s 25-year vision for the state.
Dharmendra along with party’s national spokesperson Sambit Patra, who will be contesting from Puri Lok Sabha seat, sought blessings of the sibling deities ahead of the the crucial elections.
“After becoming the Lok Sabha candidate from Sambalpur, the sacred land of Maa Samlei, it is my great fortune to reach Odisha and first get the blessings of Mahaprabhu Jagannath. I wish to be ready to serve the public with my full capability and strength, this is my wish from Mahaprabhu,” the Union Minister also posted on ‘X’.
Dharmendra will be contesting direct election after 15 years and first time after becoming a Union Minister in 2014. He was elected to the Odisha Assembly in 2000 and to the Lok Sabha from Deogarh Parliamentary seat in 2004, when the BJP was in alliance with BJD. However, he lost the Assembly elections in 2009 after the BJP-BJD alliance broke. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2012 and for a second term in 2018.
He is likely to cross swords with BJD organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das, popularly known as Bobby.
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The BJP has renominated Sambit from Puri parliamentary seat, which he had lost the 2019 election to BJD’s Pinaki Mishra by a margin of over 11,000 votes. “After my defeat by a narrow margin in 2019, I had visited the temple and I felt as if Mahaprabhu was saying that the path to Him is not an easy one. After a penance of 5 years with Mahaprabhu in my heart, I am back in the electoral battle field. I have dedicated myself to the seva (service) of the people and have become a part of them,” he said.
Sambit may get pitted against BJD’s Arup Patnaik, the former Mumbai Police Commissioner, this time.
Both Puri and Sambalpur will go to polls on May 25.
On Sunday, the BJP announced candidates for 18 of Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. Four sitting MPs were dropped from the list. It is yet to pick candidates for Cuttack, Jajpur, and Kandhamal.
