Tag: Congress

Party leaders and workers have put forth Sofia’s name for the Barabati-Cuttack Assembly seat as her father Congress MLA Mohammed Moquim's uncertain political career.

BJP National President JP Nadda and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will arrive in the state tomorrow to join their respective party’s campaigning. 

After his ticket was cancelled, Mohan Hembram asked the party to return Rs 7,50,000 to him within 48 hours or else he would take legal action.

On Sunday, while BJP National President JP Nadda is scheduled to visit Odisha, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will kick-start Congress’ campaign from Salepur.

Opposing their own nominees and challenging the decision of the top leaders, some leaders have even filed nominations as independents for the Lok Sabha seat and Assembly seats such as Gunupur, Bissam Cuttack and Jeypore.

The BJP has fielded its heavyweight and three-time MLA Dilip Ray against BJD’s Sarada Prasanna Nayak. The Congress has fielded Birendranath Patnaik.

The Election Commission of India has initiated preparations for the 2024 elections in Odisha, but major parties like BJD, BJP, and Congress have not finalized candidates for several assembly seats. While BJD and BJP have partially announced their lists, Congress lags slightly behind.

The fielding of Yasir Nawaz by Congress as Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha candidate and the expulsion of senior Congress leader and Jatani MLA Suresh Routray may turn the BJD’s apple cart in the constituency. 

Suresh Pujari, Alaka Mohanty and Kishore Patel of BJP, BJD and Congress respectively are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters.  

Congress' Begunia Assembly constituency candidate Pruthvi Ballav Patnaik accuses leaders of making themselves scarce after wining elections.

In a press note, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said, "Taking note of the complaints of indiscipline and anti-party activities, the Congress President has approved the expulsion of Suresh Kumar Routray from the party for six years with immediate effect.”

The complaint pointed out that “unsubstantiated accusations” were made by Tharoor during an interview programme hosted by a television news channel.

BJD leader Padmanabh Behera said, ”No guarantee will work here, except the Naveen guarantee. The Naveen guarantee will be effective and the BJD will perform better than the previous elections.”

Besides BJD, BJP and Congress have also attracted the ire of the Kui Samaj for fielding candidates from outside of the district. 

The grand old party had earlier announced its candidates for eight Lok Sabha seats while candidates for four more parliamentary seats are yet to be announced.