Saswat Singhdeo

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader Biswabhusan Harichandan today cleared the deck for former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi to contest from Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat by saying that his son Prithviraj Harichandan will contest from Chilika in the upcoming Assembly elections.

Addressing media persons, the senior BJP leader said "I spoke to Sarangi over phone and she will be formally joining BJP on November 27. It's almost finalised that Prithviraj Harichandan will contest from Chilika in the upcoming Assembly elections."

I am confident Aparajita will be successful in her new role because she has a lot of respect and repute and I hope she will be well accepted by the public, Harichandan added.

Similarly, Union Minister Jual Oram said "The move to induct Aparajita will prove to be more beneficial. It gives two messages, firstly how CM Naveen babu has been causing problems for upright officers through some handful of bureaucrats and secondly good people are coming to BJP which is very encouraging."

Congress viewed Aparajita’s move as a possible setback for the ruling-BJD. Senior party leader and AICC secretary Sarat Rout said "Aparajita was a bureaucrat, so she would be able to bring several unknown issues connected with BJD to the forefront which might pose problems for the ruling party. But the new development is not likely to have any impact on the Congress party."

However, the BJD has confidently ruled out the possibility of any adverse impact on the party.

"We have already witnessed similar scenario in case of Kiran Bedi in Delhi, so we are sure that there is no chance of any impact due to Aparajita’s move to BJP," said BJD spokesperson Prashant Nanda.

Sarangi, the 1994 batch Odisha-cadre IAS officer was on central deputation since 2013. She was supposed to return to Odisha in October. However, she had applied for VRS in September this year.

Sarangi’s application for VRS was approved by PM Modi on November 16.

During her stint in Odisha, Sarangi had become a popular face as the Secretary of School & Mass Education department and Commissioner of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.

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