BJD reviews poll preparedness in Koraput Lok Sabha segment 

Amid the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) ongoing exercise to finalise candidates, the party held a review meeting at Naveen Niwas on Wednesday on the poll preparedness for the Koraput Lok Sabha constituency and the Assembly seats under it. 

Senior party leaders, legislators, functionaries and the district observer attended the meeting. 

Assembly segments Koraput, Jeypore, Pottangi, Laxmipur, Rayagada, Bissamcuttack and Gunupur come under the Koraput parliamentary segment. Legislators Jagannath Saraka, Pitam Padhi, senior BJD leader Bhaskar Rao, former legislator Rabi Nanda and party’s district observer and Junagarh MLA Dibya Shankar Mishra took part in the discussion about the party’s poll strategies. 

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and 5T chairperson VK Pandian were also present.    

In the 2019 polls, Congress got an electoral breakthrough in the Koraput Lok Sabha seat by trouncing the BJD.

Also Read | Koraput Collector visits Kotia ahead of elections, conducts awareness drive

Speaking to the media, MLA Dibya Shankar Mishra said, "Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and 5T chairperson VK Pandian along with all party leaders from the district elaborately discussed measures and strategies to further strengthen the party organisation in the Assembly segments. How all leaders will get together for the Koraput LS seat was also discussed. We got an instruction on how to contest and win elections.”

Senior BJD leader Jhina Hikaka said, "We had discussions about the party’s ongoing organizational activities in the Koraput LS seat. How all leaders will work with concerted efforts to win polls was deliberated in the meeting.”

Later in the day, the ruling party held a similar meeting for the Nabarangpur parliamentary segment at Naveen Niwas where senior leaders like Manas Madkami, Subash Gond, Chandrasekhar Majhi, Padmini Dian, Iswhar Panigrahi, former MPs Pradeep Majhi and Ramesh Majhi held elaborate discussions on the strategies and preparedness for the upcoming elections. 

The party’s organisational status in all Assembly seats under the Nabarangpur LS segment was reviewed too, sources said.

However, no reactions from either the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Congress were received.