BARGARH: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday held massive public meetings in Padampur besides nearby Paikmal and Jharbandh to appeal for their candidate Barsha Singh Bariha for the by-election.
Barsha will be filing her nomination on November 17.
Addressing her first public meeting in Padampur on Wednesday, Barsha, daughter of late Bijay Singh Bariha, requested people to trust her and sought the same support from people that her father had got. “Give me a chance, I promise to work for the people of my hometown,” she said.
On the occasion, former minister Pratap Jena came down heavily on BJP stating that the party blamed the state government for delaying the disbursal of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) claim amounts. “But later, they tweeted that the insurance company has been instructed to disburse the claims of crop insurance at the earliest. It is evident that the issue was getting delayed at their end,” Jena said.
Blaming the union government of not responding to the request of the state government for abolition of GST on Kendu leaves, the minister said “the central government is weaving a web of deceit.”
Appealing to elect Barsha, the minister assured that BJD is always concerned about Padampur and the party being at helm in the state, a candidate from the BJD can bring about development in Padampur.
Besides Barsha, her contenders Pradip Purohit of BJP and Satya Bhusan Sahu of Congress would also be filing nomination papers on the last day on Thursday.
Several BJD leaders including Jena, Prasanna Acharya, Bargarh MLA, Debesh Acharya, Bhatli MLA, Susanta Singh, Sanjit Mohanty, Pradeep Majhi besides few other members were present at the Padampur meeting.
The by-election in Padampur was declared following the death of sitting BJD MLA of Padampur Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha on October 3. Subsequently, his daughter, Barsha was fielded by the party as their candidate on November 14.