JHARSUGUDA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Tankadhar Tripathy filed his nomination papers on Monday for the by-election to the Jharsuguda assembly seat. The seat fell vacant after the demise of former minister Naba Kishore Das.
Tripathy arrived at the office of sub-collector-cum-returning officer Kishore Chandra Swain in a grand rally in which several party leaders, including Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal, Minister of State, Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs Bishweswar Tudu, senior leader Sameer Mohanty, Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari and Kalahandi MP Basant Panda.
Tudu said the BJD government has failed to provide roof to the poor families of the state. “The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is not being executed properly in the state. Maximum units of the PMAY scheme have been allotted to the wealthy people or the BJD party workers,” he alleged.
After filing nomination papers, Tripathy said the by-election would be a fight between the general public and the corrupt BJD government. Addressing media persons he said, “Thousands of people spontaneously joining the procession on the day at 44 degrees temperature shows their anger towards a tainted government.”
Blaming the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government, Samal said, “The law and order failure of the BJD government has forced the by-poll.” He went on to say that the government’s inaction has given rise to crime and criminals. “Surprisingly, a police ASI shot the cabinet minister Naba Das in broad daylight. Even after days, the reasons for the murder are not yet known,” he added.
Earlier Congress candidate Tarun Pandey had filed his nomination papers on Saturday. Naba Das’s daughter and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) candidate Deepali Das is scheduled to file her nomination on Tuesday.
The voting for the Assembly constituency will be held on May 10 and counting of the votes slated for May 13.