Bhubaneswar: BJD Supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik likely to campaign for party candidate Alaka Mohanty during ensuing by-election to Brajrajnagar Assembly constituency in Jharsuguda district.
The Governing Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday announced its list of 40 star campaigners for the by-poll. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is on top of star campaigners while names of several Ministers, MPs, MLAs and senior leaders have been included in the list.
The Chief Minister has remained out of the campaign during past elections held since the outbreak of Covid-19. All eyes are now on whether he will go for campaigning this time or not. As the Opposition BJP and Congress have filed strong candidates, party leaders hope that he is likely to go for campaigning.
Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari, Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water Minister Pratap Jena, Higher Education Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash, Health Minister Naba Das, Labour Minister Susant Singh, Women and Child Development Minister Tukuni Sahu and Industries Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra will campaign for BJD candidate Alaka Mohanty.
Similarly, BJD General Secretary (Organisation) Pranab Prakash Das, Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallik, Rajya Sabha MPs Prasanna Acharya, Sujit Kumar, Munna Khan & Sasmit Patra, Ollywood actor Arindam Roy & Akash Das Nayak, former bureaucrat Nalinkanta Pradhan and Cuttack Mayor Subash Chandra Singh will take part in the election campaign to steer the party to victory in the by-poll.
Moreover, MLAs including Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Chandra Sarathi Behera, Snehangini Chhuria, Rohit Pujari, Priti Ranjan Ghadei, Debesh Acharya, Rajendra Dholakia, Rita Sahu, Prasanta Behera, Saroj Meher, Bikram Panda and Latika Pradhan have been named in the list.
Final list of candidates for the by-poll will be out today. The by-elections to the Brajrajnagar Assembly seat will be held on May 31. The counting of votes and declaration of results is scheduled for June 3.