Railway & Farmers’ Issues To Heat Up In Odisha’s Padampur With 2 Union Ministers On Campaign Trail Today

Bhubaneswar: The Padampur Assembly constituency in Bargarh district of Odisha is all set to witness a high-voltage campaign on Sunday with two Union Ministers scheduled to address two public meetings jointly while seeking votes for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Pradip Purohit in the bypoll on December 5.

The scheduled campaigning by Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Pradip Purohit on Sunday assumes significance against the backdrop of BJP-BJD slugfest over a railway project and farmers’ issues with both parties passing the buck.

According to sources, the Union Ministers will address public meetings at Paikamal at 12 noon and later at Ashok Club Field at Padampur.

Tomar is likely to clarify the Centre’s stand over the delay in the settlement of insurance claims for crop losses in the Kharif season of 2021 while Vaishnaw may take on the ruling party over the proposed railway line project from Bargarh to Nuapada via Padampur.

Meanwhile, BJP is planning a massive road show to counter the BJP in the constituency.

The by-election was necessitated due to the death of sitting MLA Bijaya Ranjan Singh Bariha on October 3. The BJD has fielded Bijaya Ranjan’s elder daughter Barsha Singh Bariha to cash in on the sympathy wave while playing the woman card. She, however, is pitted against two former MLAs. The Congress party has picked its former legislator Satya Bhusan Sahu while BJP is hoping for an encore of Dhampur, where it stalled the five-unbeaten BJD juggernaut by retaining the seat in the recently concluded bypoll, with Purohit.