Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha, Congress on Sunday claimed that many leaders of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are unhappy over the state of affairs in the ruling party.
Claiming that BJD has entered into an understanding with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) due to the initiative of Nabin Odisha Chairman V K Pandia, Congress in-charge for Odisha Ajoy Kumar said many leaders of the ruling party are highly disappointed because of this.
Kumar further claimed that several senior leaders of BJD are in touch Congress as they feel that the ruling party is being run by BJP is running BJD in Odisha.
“These leaders are highly disillusioned. They are of the view that there both BJD and BJP have joined hands,” he claimed, and said that those leaders of BJD and BJP who want to save Odisha should come forward and join Congress where they will get due respect to them.
Regarding selection of candidates for the upcoming polls, he said the second phase of the process has started. In the first phase, many people had applied for the assembly election and their names have been presented in the PEC meeting.
Apart from this, the names of those who have applied for the Lok Sabha have also been discussed in the PEC. The screening committee will meet in New Delhi on February 27, said Kumar.
Priority for tickets will be given to those who can demonstrate their grassroots skills in the programme. Around 2,600 aspirants have applied for 147 Assembly constituencies, while over 545 applications have been received for 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the Congress leader said, adding that efforts are on to release the list of candidates in the first week of March.
