Bhubaneswar: After picking up fighters for the Dhamnagar by-election, Governing BJD and Opposition Congress and BJP have announced their star campaigners for the by-poll scheduled for November 3.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has named party Supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik as its first star campaigner in a 40 star campaigners list submitted to the Election Commission.
BJD Organisational Secretary Pranab Prakash Das, Prasanna Acharya, Debi Prasad Mishra, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Prafulla Samal, Pramila Mallik, Pratap Keshari Deb, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Ashok Chandra Panda, Amar Prasad Satpathy, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Pritiranjan Gharai, Rajendra Dholkia, Snehangini Chhuria, Sudam Marndi, Pranab Balabantaray, Byomkesh Ray and Captain. Dibya Shankar Mishra among the other star campaigners of the BJD.
However, actor-turned politician Anubhav Mohanty, Minister Samir Dash and senior Lawmaker Pratap Jena have been excluded from the list.
Notably, the BJD has named Abanti Das who is currently serving as the Block Chairman of Tihidi as its candidate for the poll.
Similarly, the BJP’s National General Secretary Arun Singh had earlier sent a list of party’s star campaigners to the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar for the upcoming by-poll.
Odisha BJP President Samir Mohanty along with three Union Ministers- Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Bisweswar Tudu will campaign for the party candidate Suryavanshi Suraj Sthitaprajna, son of Bishnu Charan Sethi.
BJP Vice-President Baijayant Panda, LoP Jayanarayan Mishra, and senior leaders Sunil Bansal, Sambit Patra, Jual Oram and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi are also the star campaigners of the saffron party for the by-poll.
The Congress party has named A Chella Kumar, in-charge of AICC Odisha; G Rudra Rju, AICC secretary; Sarat Patnaik, President of OPCC; senior MLA Narasingha Mishra, former OPCC Presidents Niranjan Patnaik, Jayadev Jena and Prasad Harichandan as its star campaigners.
Among other leaders, Chiranjib Biswal, Bhakta Charan Das, MP Saptagiri Sankar Ullaka, Rama Chandra Khuntia, Sushila Tiria, Sarat Rout, MLAs Suresh Kumar Routray, Santosh Singh Saluja and Taraprasad Bahinipati would also campaign for Congress nominee Baba Harekrushna Sethi in the by-poll.
However, Congress has excluded the name of Barabati-Cuttack MLA Md Moquim in the list.