Bhubaneswar: After deciding to go it alone for the Lok Saha and Assembly polls in Odisha, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has stepped up the process of selection of candidates for the twin elections.
Senior BJD leaders assembled at Naveen Niwas, the residence of party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar, and discussed party’s preparations for the polls as well as the likely candidates for different parliamentary and assembly constituencies. Hectic activities can now be seen in the ruling party’s ‘war room’ with the twin elections fast approaching.
Apart from finalising candidates, the ruling party is also giving final touches to its poll strategy. As per sources, party supremo Naveen Patnaik has so far reviewed lists of probable candidates for eleven Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly seats. Some leaders have already been given green signal for contesting the poll battle. After getting clear indications, several poll warriors have already hit the battlefield.
The ruling BJD is stated to have finalised the names of Arup Patnaik and Chandrashekhar Sahu for Puri and Berhampur Lok Sabha seats respectively. Sitting party MP Pinaki Mishra is unlikely to contest from Puri this time.
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik, who had lost 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Bhubaneswar, is all set to be in the fray from Puri. BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi had defeated Patnaik by over 23,000 votes in Bhubaneswar in last elections.
In Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency, the regional party is likely to re-nominate Sahu, who has already launched campaign in the area. Sahu had defeated BJP’s Bhrugu Buxipatra by around 94,000 votes in 2019 elections.
Similarly, the party is likely to renominate sitting Lok Sabha member Achyuta Samanta is likely to be re-nominated for Kandhamal Parliamentary seat.
After Bhartruhari Mahtab quit BJD and joined BJP, the regional party is looking for a new face for Cuttack Lok Sabha seat. Among the probable nominees is Santrupt Mishra, who left the corporate world to take a plunge into politics.
Similarly, the ruling BJD may field Pradeep Majhi, who joined the party after quitting Congress in 2021, from Nabarangpur Lok Sabha constituency in place of Ramesh Majhi.
In Kendrapada, the conch party is likely to field former MLA Anshuman Mohanty, who joined BJD after quitting Congress recently. Actor-turned-politician Anubhav Mohanty, who represents the constituency in the outgoing Lok Sabha, seems to have been ignored by the ruling party after he got embroiled in a family dispute.
While Shreemayee Mishra seems to be ahead in the race for Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat, BJD is likely to repeat Kalikesh Narayan Singhdeo in Balangir, though he had lost the elections in 2019.
The regional party may replace Chandrani Murmu and Pramila Bishoyee in Keonjhar and Aska constituencies respectively and go for new faces.
As the candidate selection process gained pace after collapse of alliance talks, probable candidates for four Lok Sabha and 28 Assembly constituencies are being discussed at Naveen Niwas on Sunday. Senior leaders from Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Dhenkanal and Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituencies congregated for the meeting.
As part of the exercise, BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik and party’s poll strategist V K Pandian are meeting MLAs, observers and other key party functionaries from these four Lok Sabha constituencies.
This apart, the ruling BJD has also convened an important meeting of party’s youth and student wings at Sankha Bhawan on Sunday.
Notably, the regional party had initiated the ticket selection exercise for the ensuing twin elections in the state with a meeting with leaders of Puri and Kendrapada Lok Sabha seats on March 18.
Voting for the 147-member Odisha assembly will be held in four phases – May 13, May 20, May 25, June 1. Counting of votes will take place on June 4. The term of the current assembly elected in 2019 will expire in June, 2024. Polling for the 21 Lok Sabha seats would also be held simultaneously on these days.
The meeting first held discussion on probable candidates for Sambalpur Parliamentary constituency. Senior leaders from the area and observer for the constituency were present. BJD’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das, former Banai MLA Bhimsen Choudhary,
Chhendipada MLA Sushant Behera, former Sundargarh MLA Jogesh Singh and senior party leader Mangala Kisan also attended the meeting.
It may be noted here that BJD had fielded new faces in all Lok Sabha constituencies except Puri and Cuttack in 2019 elections. A clear picture will emerge as the party is expected to announce its list of candidates by the first week of April, sources said.
