BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will not campaign in Barchana and Bari Assembly constituencies in Jajpur district in the first phase of electioneering on January 24.
Sources said the Chief Minister will campaign in Sukinda, Jajpur and Korei constituencies in the district. Though campaigning in the Barchana was in the schedule for the first phase, it has been cancelled.
Candidates of the NCP and the BJD are locked in friendly fights in the Barchana constituency for the Zilla Parishad seats. The two parties do not have a pact at the State-level for the panchayat polls. The Chief Minister will also keep off campaigning in the Bari Assembly constituency. Former minister Debasis Nayak represents the constituency in the Assembly. Nayak was suspended from the party last year after he criticised Naveen’s style of functioning and the role of the second power centre in the decision- making process.
However, Naveen had visited Bari constituency after the flood in September last year and was seen visiting the affected areas with Nayak. It was expected that Nayak will be rehabilitated in the party and his suspension withdrawn. But no such thing has happened till now. Sources said the Chief Minister may visit these constituencies in the second-phase campaigning. He is also unlikely to campaign in Binjharpur in the first phase, represented in the Assembly by former Women and Child Development minister Pramila Mallick. She was asked to resign after the dal scam surfaced.