Odisha chief minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik will for the first time contest from two Assembly constituencies — Hinjili in Ganjam and Bijepur in Bargarh — in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Announcing its list of candidates for Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls on April 11 and April 18, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Monday replaced eight of its nine sitting MPs. The party also announced the names of candidates for 54 Assembly constituencies where polling will be held in the first two phases.
While Hinjili has been Naveen’s traditional seat since 2000, his decision to fight the polls simultaneously from Bijepur is spurred by the BJD’s attempt to check the growth of the BJP in western Odisha.
BJD leaders, however, said that Naveen’s decision to fight from Bijepur had more to do with the demand of the people from the region rather than anything else. Party leaders from the region had met Naveen in Bhubaneswar on Sunday to convey the wishes of the people of Bijepur.
While selecting candidates for the nine parliamentary seats, the BJD has replaced eight sitting MPs with new faces. While the Berhampur seat represented by cine star-turned-politician Siddhant Mohapatra has gone to former Union minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Koraput MP Jhinna Hikaka has been replaced with his wife Koushalaya Hikaka. Sahu is new in the BJD after having switched over from the Congress.
The party has also denied ticket to Kandhamal MP Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh. She has been replaced by educationist-turned-politician Achyuta Samanta. Similarly, former minister Puspendra Singh Deo replaces fellow royal Arkesh Kesari Deo in Kalahandi, former minister Ramesh Majhi will contest from Nabarangpur earlier represented by engineer-turned-politician Balabhadra Majhi, who has joined the BJP.
While Rajya Sabha MP Prasanna Acharya will contest from Bargarh, former Congress chief minister Hemanand Biswal’s daughter Sunita Biswal has been fielded from Sundargarh.
In a surprise move the party has fielded Mission Shakti self-help group leader and marginal farmer Pramila Bisoi from the Aska seat. Incidentally, Aska is the place from where Naveen had started his political career.
Pramila’s elder son runs a tea stall, while the younger one has a motorbike garage. Her two daughters are married. Pramila, who has less than an acre of land, has used her leadership skill to influence and create awareness on wide-range of issues such as sanitation, vaccination, institutional delivery, environment protection, and literacy. She is also an active member of the Peacock Protection Samiti.
“Mrs Bisoi truly represents the Mission Shakti… In a humble tribute to the lakhs of women in our Mission Shakti movement, I have declared Pramila Bisoi SHG leader in Nalaghanata village Aska to be the BJD candidate for the Lok Sabha constituency,” Naveen said.
He added: “It will be personally very heartening for me to see a grassroots SHG leader like Mrs Bisoi in the hallowed halls of Parliament.”
Sticking to his promise, Naveen has allotted three of the promised seven Lok Sabha seats to women. The only seat on which the party has retained its sitting MP is Balangir. The BJD has re-nominated royal scion Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo from the seat.
The list of Assembly candidates, however, has fewer surprises.
While Bikram Panda, a former Congress leader who had joined the BJD last year, has replaced party veteran Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik in Berhampur, Congress turncoats Naba Kishore Das and Jogesh Singh have been given the Jharsuguda and Sundargarh seats, respectively.
While Kalyani Gajpati, the daughter of former Berhampur MP and royal scion Gopinath Gajpati, has been fielded from Parlakhemundi, veteran Sugyani Kumari Deo has been replaced in Kabisurya Nagar with Latika Pradhan, daughter of former CPI leader Nityanand Pradhan.
Former Rajya Sabha member Bhupinder Singh, who had been lobbying for a party ticket for a long time, has been fielded from Narla, while captain Dibya Shankar Mishra has managed to get a re-nomination from Junagarh in Kalahandi district.
