Niranjan Loses To Badri Patra For Third Time

Bhubaneswar: Senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik, who on Friday resigned as president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) following the party’s miserable performance in Odisha, has lost to his arch-rival and BJD leader Badri Narayan Patra for the third time.

The two leaders have faced each other five times in Assembly polls. Niranjan won twice while Badri won the three other times.

The four-time Congress MLA, Niranjan, had won from Ramchandrapur constituency in Keonjhar district in 1980, 1985, 1995 and 2004. In this constituency, he defeated Badri twice, in 1995 (Badri was then a Janata Dal candidate) and in 2004 (Badri was then an Independent), losing to him in 2000. Later, in the Ghasipura Assembly election in 2009, Badri, then a BJD candidate, had defeated Niranjan. Niranjan had not contested the Assembly elections in 2014.