Odisha BJP President Leaves For Delhi To Discuss Candidates’ List Amid Alliance Suspense

Bhubaneswar: Odisha president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Manmohan Samal left for New Delhi on Monday to hold discussion with the central leadership of the party on the list of probable candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the state.

According to sources, Samal left for the national capital along with organisational secretary of the state party unit Manas Mohanty. He is stated to be carrying the shortlisted list of candidates prepared by the election committee of Odisha BJP.

BJP election in-charge for Odisha Vijaypal Singh Tomar and co-in charge Lata Usendi have already left for New Delhi on Sunday, a day after the state party unit’s core committee and election committee held marathon meetings and discussed election issues.

The senior leaders are expected to discuss the candidate list prepared by state election committee with the top brass of the saffron party in Delhi.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Jual Oram asserted that there is no confusion among party workers over any alliance.

Stating that the state party has sent a list of probable candidates to the central leadership, the Sundargarh MP said that everything will be done as per the decision of the central leaders with regard to any possible alliance with Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Sources said the final list of BJP candidates will be prepared once the candidates are shortlisted from the existing list. The BJP parliamentary board will take a final call on who will be the party candidate from which place.

The meeting of the BJP state office bearers was held till late in the night last Saturday. The details were discussed in the core committee and election committee meetings. Senior BJP leaders said that a list of probable candidates for all the 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha constituencies has been prepared for consideration of the central leadership.

All important issues pertaining to the upcoming twin elections in the state will be discussed at the meeting of BJP core committee in Delhi. Apart from BJP national president J P Nadda, the meeting is likely to be attended among others by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and senior leader B L Santosh.

Meanwhile, the ruling BJD was also reported to have started the process of selection of candidates for the twin elections. A meeting has been convened at Naveen Niwas, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s residence in Bhubaneswar.

BJD observers and party leaders of the Puri Lok Sabha Constituency are stated to be attending the meeting. The leaders include Arun Sahoo, Sanjay Das Burma, Rudra Maharathy, Umakant Samantray and Satya Pradhan among others.