Saswat Singhdeo

Kendrapara: Ahead of the fourth phase polls, all the major political parties have rolled up their sleeves with the Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency witnessing high-voltage campaigning.

From the kind of weight that the ruling party is putting behind this constituency, it seems that the fight is between one man - BJP's LS candidate Baijayant Jay Panda and the BJD.

https://youtu.be/XDeDFq1m74w

In Rajnagar and Patkura Assembly constituencies under the Kendrapara LS segment, where BJD is said to be weak, political heavyweights of the ruling party are leaving no stone unturned to woo the voters.

BJD leaders who have been assigned the task of campaigning include Bhupinder Singh, Arup Patnaik, Chandrasekhar Sahu, Bikram Panda, Sarada Nayak, Pradeep Panigrahi, Pushpendra Singhdeo, Pramila Bisoi, Pravat Biswal, Braja Pradhan, Niranjan Pujhari, Minati Behera, Srikant Sahu and Tukuni Sahu.

“I have been given the charge of zone 8 of Kendrapara. I can feel that there is full support for Naveen babu,” Chandrasekhar Sahu said.

While BJD is apparently using a strategy similar to what was witnessed during Bijepur bypoll, BJP leaders like Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo and others have intensified poll campaigning on the ground.

“People have already decided that they will vote for BJP. Muscle and money power won’t work this time. BJP will form government both in Odisha and at the Centre,” Singhdeo said.

Similarly, Congress party leaders are also campaigning in the constituency.

“BJD is bringing a lot of leaders to woo everyone but we are not worried. People want development, so they will vote for Congress,” Kendrapara Assembly candidate of Congress, Ganeswar Behera said.

Political parties have also roped in cine stars for campaigning in Kendrapara. While Varsha Priyadarshini and Akash Das Nayak were seen with BJD’s Lok Sabha candidate Anubhav Mohanty, Babushan Mohanty, Jhilik Bhattacharya, Buddhaditya Mohanty and Harihar campaigned for Jay Panda.

“I am a staunch supporter of BJP, PM Narendra Modi and Baijayant 'Jay' Panda,” said Buddhaditya Mohanty.

Actress Jhilik said, “Baijayant sir has done a lot for the people of this constituency and that’s why so many persons have gathered here in his support.”

scrollToTop