BHUBANESWAR: As the BJP prepares for an aggressive campaign on large-scale irregularities in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to wrest Pipili Assembly constituency in the bypoll scheduled on September 30, the BJD has started preparing groundwork for retaining the seat.
Former minister and BJD MLA Pratap Deb, Pipili constituency in-charge, has already started coordinating with leaders entrusted with different panchayats for overseeing the election work to kickstart the campaign for the party. “We have started the process from Saturday after the announcement of the bypoll date by the Election Commission of India,” he said.
As the campaign period has been curtailed to only seven days from September 20, leaders in-charge of different blocks and panchayats in the constituency will move to field from that date only, Deb said and added that preparation has already started to decide on which issues to be taken up during the campaign.
Sources said irregularities in distribution of PMAY houses will be a major issue during the campaign. The issue had put the BJD on the backfoot during the earlier campaign in Pipili. Cyclone Fani had battered the Odisha coast on May 3, 2019 and thousands of houses were damaged in Puri district including Pipili Assembly constituency.
However, BJD sources maintained that the party is banking on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s campaign again to retain the seat this time also. The Chief Minister will again address the voters virtually to counter the BJP campaign which is likely to be led by senior leaders including Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, sources said.