Cuttack: With BJP top leadership seemingly keen on fielding senior leaders, including those currently in the Rajya Sabha, to boost their chances in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has set rumour mills buzzing with his third visit to the Assembly segments of Cuttack parliamentary constituency within a month.
The Union Minister, who arrived in Bhubaneswar on Saturday evening, attended the live show of Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat programme at Paramhans, Biribati, in Cuttack on Sunday. “An approach road along railway line near Paramhans has been sanctioned and so also a passenger reservation counter and a flyover for Kandarpur. The works will begin soon,” he said.
Vaishnaw, who had two decades ago served as Cuttack collector when he was an IAS officer, however, evaded the question on contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Cuttack.
Earlier in the day, he also visited the construction site of Cuttack railway station and inspected the ongoing development work.
“Cuttack is a historical city… To add to the historical significance of the city, a railway station is being made with the vision of PM Narendra Modi. Work on the second entry to the station is nearing completion and it looks like an airport with modern facilities. Large space has been created for passengers. A good parking facility has also been provided. Arrangement has been made to ensure smooth movement of truck from Malgodown to the highway. Escalators, lifts and stairs have been built along with a well-ventilated building. Work on the main entry is also in full swing,” he told reporters.
Vaishnaw had last visited the railway station on January 14. During this Odisha trip, he had also put to rest all speculation on him contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Balasore seat. “I will not contest from Balasore. We have Pratap ‘Nana’ here,” he had said, referring to sitting BJP MP Pratap Sarangi, who is a former Union minister.
On Saturday (January 27) evening, he meet former minister and senior BJP leader Samir Dey at his residence in Cuttack. He also visited the ‘Samaj’ office here and paid tributes at the statue of its founder Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das.
Vaishnaw had visited Khandapada, Athagarh, Banki and Badamba Assembly segments of Cuttack after inaugurating the Nuagaon-Daspalla section of the Khurda Road-Balangir Rail Line project, and the Daspalla Railway Station building on January 6. He also offered prayers at Baba Dhabaleswar Temple in Athagarh sub-division of Cuttack district.
During this visit, he, however, did not rule out the possibility of contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Cuttack seat. “I am a disciplined worker of the party and I perform whatever task the party assigns to me. Recently, the party asked me to work in the Madhya Pradesh elections, which I followed accordingly,” he told mediapersons at Athagarh.
The Cuttack seat is at present held by six-time BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab. In 2019, he won the seat by defeating BJP’s Prakash Mishra, who is a former Odisha DGP.
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