Bhubaneswar: BJD Banks on several turncoats in LS polls

Bhubaneswar : The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has fielded 33 per cent women candidates and 38 per cent turncoats for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in the State.

The nomination process for the 21 parliamentary seats concluded on Thursday with BJD chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announcing Lekhasri Samantsinghar as the party’s candidate for Balasore Lok Sabha seat. Previously, Naveen had named six other women as nominees for the Lok Sabha polls. In 2019, five out of the seven women candidates Naveen had fielded had won.

This time around, Naveen made changes to the roster by dropping two sitting women MPs, Chandrani Murmu from Keonjhar and Pramila Bisoi from Aska, while opting to re-nominate Kausalya Hikaka for Koraput Lok Sabha seat.

The seven women candidates are – Lekhasri Samantsinghar (Balasore), Sarmistha Sethi (Jajpur), Manjula Mandal (Bhadrak), Rajashree Mallik (Jagatsinghpur), Parineeta Mishra (Bargarh), Kausalya Hikaka (Koraput) and Ranjita Sahu (Aska).

The BJD’s Lok Sabha candidates also include eight turncoats (38 per cent). They are Lekhasri Samantsinghar (Balasore), Bhrugu Baxipatra (Berhampur), Pradeep Majhi (Nabarangpur), Surendra Singh Bhoi (Bolangir), Parineeta Mishra (Bargarh), Dhanurjay Sidu (Keonjhar), Anshuman Mohanty (Kendrapara) and Manmoth Routray (Bhubaneswar).

Lekhasree had recently switched allegiance from the BJP’s Odisha unit. Notably, she is the second former BJP vice-president, after Bhrugu Baxipatra, to receive BJD’s nomination for the Lok Sabha elections. She will contest against BJP’s sitting MP and former Union minister Pratap Jena.

“I thank Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and party general secretary Pranab Prakash Das. The Chief Minister has a vision, plan and strategy for the development of the State as well as Balasore Lok Sabha constituency. I will reach out to every household,” Lekhasri told reporters after her name was announced by the BJD president.

Paradip candidate Gitanjali Routray, wife of sitting MLA Sambit Routray, said, “I thank Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and 5T Chairman V K Pandian for reposing faith in me to fight the polls from Paradip.” Sambit Routray, who was denied re-nomination from Paradip from where his wife become a candidate, said, “The Chief Minister has always given importance to women empowerment.”