Minister Retracts Statement On Shreemayee Mishra As BJD’s Choice For Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha Seat

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJD leader and Science and Technology Minister Ashok Panda has retracted his statement about party spokesperson Shreemayee Mishra being the likely BJD candidate for Bhubaneswar Parliamentary constituency after it created a flutter in political circles.

Speaking at ‘Jana Sampark Padayatra’ of the party at Ekamra Assembly constituency recently, Panda mentioned about BJD president Naveen Patnaik’s decision to field Shreemayee from the Lok Sabha seat. “Our Chief Minister Naveen babu has decided to field her. Therefore, we must ensure her victory from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat,” he said, while appealing the people to vote for her.

The BJD is yet to officially announce any candidate for the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

Panda, however, told the media on Saturday that his statement was misconstrued. “She has been visiting different Assembly segments and, therefore, I urged people to support her in her endeavour for the sake of our CM. A decision on her candidature rests with Naveen babu. He is the president of the party. My statement has been twisted,” he claimed.

This has come amid reports that the ruling BJD might field a woman candidate to challenge sitting BJP MP from the seat Aparajita Sarangi. Though the BJD is yet to decide on ticket for Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, Shreemayee has emerged as a frontrunner. The six MLAs from the Parliamentary constituency were also earlier asked to extend all support to Shreemayee during her visit to different places in the constituency.

BJD vice president and former Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patsani, however, strongly expressed his disapproval. “Everyone know what happened last time. I am hoping that the party will not commit the same mistake again. Had the party given me the ticket in 2019, we would have never been defeated from the seat. Whosoever is with the people, is never defeated,” he asserted.

In 2019, BJD fielded Arup Patnaik, former Mumbai police commissioner-turned-politician, but he was defeated by Aparajita, also a bureaucrat-turned-politician.

BJP’s Bhubaneswar unit president Babu Singh said the BJD cannot just parachute a candidate and expect people to support him/her. “The candidate should have the ability to represent them in Parliament and raise their issues,” he said.

Political analysts, however, are of the opinion that this might be a ploy of the ruling BJD to test waters ahead of the twin polls in 2024 by projecting someone as a candidate.

Shreemayee, who is the a BJD general secretary, is a native of Balangir district.