Bargarh: The battle lines for the Bijepur bypoll has been drawn with ex-BJD MLA Ashok Panigrahi along with his thousands of supporters joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at ‘Mishrana Parva’ held at Barpali in Bargarh district today.
BJP’s State President Basant Panda claimed that the party will kick-start its ‘Mission 120+Seats’ in Odisha from Bijepur. Though it was anticipated that BJP would officially name Ashok Panigarhi as its nominee for the Bijepur bypoll, no such announcement was made at the event.
BJP leader KV Singhdeo stated that the party will shortly announce its candidate for the bypoll while today’s event was only to mark the joining of Ashok Panigarhi.
Meanwhile, BJP heavyweights including Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Jual Oram and Odisha in-charge Arun Singh and other State leaders took the opportunity to lambast the Naveen Patnaik-led State government as part of their strategy to build ground for the upcoming 2019 elections.
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Dharmendra Pardhan took a dig at the State government for neglecting farmers in Odisha. He claimed that BJP-led State Governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh have already waived off crop loans of the farmers.
“This time it will be a fight for right in Odisha. Bijepur by-election will see the contest between sympathy for a person and people’s anger against the deteriorating governance in Odisha,” said Pradhan in a tweet.
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BJP’s Bargarh district president Narayan Sahu, who had earlier opposed and expressed displeasure over Ashok Panigrahi’s proposed candidature for Bijepur bypoll, gave the event a miss today.
Though BJP is hopeful of sailing through the bypolls riding on the popularity of Ashok Panigrahi in the region, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik claimed that show of strength and Panigrahi’s inclusion in BJP will certainly not have any impact on BJD’s prospects.
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