Odisha Elections 2024: BJD brainstorms on preparedness for Puri and Kendrapara LS seats

Amid hectic political activities by all parties, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) held two meetings at Naveen Niwas on Monday and brainstormed on the party’s preparedness and strategies for the Puri and Kendrapara Parliamentary constituencies.

BJD observers and party leaders of the Puri Parliamentary constituency attended the first meeting. The ruling party leaders like Arun Sahoo, Sanjay Dasburma, Rudra Maharathy, Umakant Samanatray and Satya Pradhan among others took part in the meeting. 

However, Puri MP Pinaki Misra was conspicuous by his absence.

The meeting assumed much importance for the party given the fact that its candidate Pinaki Misra had won from the Puri LS Constituency in 2019 by a slim margin of 10,000 votes against BJP’s Sambit Patra. The BJD is said to be focusing on Puri to increase its vote share and margin.

Reliable sources said BJD leader Arup Patnaik, who had unsuccessfully contested in the Bhubaneswar  Lok Sabha segment, may be given a party ticket from the Puri LS seat while veteran leader Prasanna Patasani may be fielded from the Chilika Assembly seat. 

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On the other hand, the ruling party is well aware of the squabble between Satyabadi MLA Umakant Samantaray and former Bramhagiri MLA Sanjay Dasburma. It is said the BJD may change the turfs for the two leaders. Umakant may be given a ticket for the Bramhagiri Assembly seat and vice versa.    

Speaking to the media, BJD legislator Arun Sahoo said, "At the meeting, discussions were held on the Puri Parliamentary constituency and Assembly seats. The meeting focused on further strengthening the party’s organisation to win all seats.”

Rabindra Jena, party observer for Khordha district said, "Discussions were held on programmes and activities to be taken up in coming days in the Chilika Assembly constituency.”    

Another meeting was held for the Kendrapara LS constituency where party leaders like Pratap Deb, Pratap Jena, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, Anshuman Mohanty, Sashibhusan Behera, Dhruba Sahu and Aravind Mohapatra among others were present. 

However, sitting Kendrapara MP, Anubhav Mohanty was not seen in the meeting.  

After the meeting, Pratap Deb told the media, "The party supremo called us to hold discussions about the party’s preparedness in the Kendrapara parliamentary segment. Elaborate discussions were held on each Assembly seat.”