Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculations to rest, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today vacated the Bijepur Assembly seat and retained the Hinjili constituency.
CM Naveen had contested and won both the Assembly constituencies- Bijepur in Bargarh district and Hinjili in Ganjam district- in 2019 polls.
Speculations had started to build regarding him vacating Bijepur since the day he announced a slew of projects for the people of Bijepur after being swon-in as the CM of Odisha for the fifth term in a row.
Earlier, reacting to such speculations, BJP MLA from Sambalpur Jaya Narayan Mishra had said, “During the 2018 Bijepur byelection, a lot of packages were announced. Nothing happened. He (Naveen) is probably considering giving up the seat and that’s why a package has been announced.”
Patnaik, who steered the BJD to a landslide victory in the assembly polls, had defeated his nearest BJP nominee Pitambar Acharya in Hinjili constituency by 60,160 votes.
In Bijepur, the BJD chief had defeated his BJP rival Sanat Kumar Gartia by 57,122 votes.
Naveen has been winning from Hinjili in Ganjam district since 2000 when he entered state politics after serving as a Union Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.