Bhubaneswar: A war of words erupted between Odisha’s ruling between Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over delay in the announcement of candidates for the upcoming twin elections in the state.
After the ruling BJD claimed that BJP does not have candidates for Assembly seats, the saffron party hit back stating that the regional outfit has got nothing to do with the issue.
Coming down heavily on the Naveen Patnaik-led party, BJP leaders said BJD should announce its candidates for all the 147 Assembly constituencies.
Stating that BJD should first announce candidates for all 147 Assembly seats, Odisha BJP vice president Golak Mohapatra told reporters that the ruling party need not bother about candidates of others parties. He sought to know whether BJD is waiting for ‘imported’ leaders to declare candidates for the rest 75 Assembly seats after announcing 72 nominees.
The BJP leader said that the names of names of party candidates have been cleared by the state unit and the list is usually announced by the party’s parliamentary board in New Delhi. The list of candidates will be released at the appropriate time.
While BJP has announced its candidates for all 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, it is yet to declare Assembly nominees. BJD has released its list of 15 Lok Sabha and 72 Assembly candidates, while Congress is yet to declare its candidates.
