BJP Omits Aparajita, Sambit & Chhattisgarh CM From Star Campaigners List For Odisha Polls, Includes Hema Malini

Bhubaneswar: The BJP on Tuesday released a revised list of its 40 star campaigners for Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in Odisha.

Minister of Tribal Affairs and Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Arjun Munda, actress-turned-politician Hema Mailini, and BJP MP candidate from Bangalore South Tejasvi Surya, have been included in the new list.  Names of former state president Bimbadhar Kuanr, who returned to the BJP fold after 10 years, and state party spokesperson Jatin Mohanty have also been added.

The BJP has relieved two of its candidates, contesting from the prestigious seats of Puri and Bhubaneswar, Sambit Patra and Aparajita Sarangi, from the campaigning duty. Names of Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia, Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai and Chhattisgarh minister for Forest and Climate Change Kedar Nath Kashyap have also been omitted.

Besides BJP national president J P Nadda, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Smriti Irani, Bhupender Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan, Shantanu Thakur and Bishweswar Tudu figure in the list, which also includes 3 CMs – Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam), and Mohan Yadav (Madhya Pradesh).

Odisha in-charge of BJP Sunil Bansal, his co-in-charges Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and Lata Usendi, state president Manmohan Samal, MPs Jual Oram, Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Basanta Panda, Suresh Pujari, national vice-president Baijayant Panda, leader of Opposition in state Jayanarayan Mishra and K V Singh Deo have been retained.

Kendrapara MP and Odia film star Anubhav Mohanty, who quit BJD and joined the BJP recently, actors Pinky Pradhan and Sritam Das are the other star campaigners.