BHUBANESWAR: Senior BJD leader Prasanna Acharya is reportedly unhappy over the party’s decision to field him from Sambalpur Assembly seat.
Sources said the veteran leader on Friday met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the Naveen Niwas here and requested him to reconsider the decision.
Acharya was interested to contest from Rairakhol Assembly constituency from where he was elected in 2009. The party, which announced candidates for nine Assembly seats, had renominated former minister Rohit Pujari from Rairakhol segment and fielded Acharya from Sambalpur.
Sources said shifting of Acharya to Sambalpur seat has led to resentment among local leaders who were aspiring for a ticket from the seat including former MLA Raseswari Panigrahi
Acharya was fielded for the Assembly seat as he had declined to contest the Lok Sabha polls this time from Bargarh from where he had lost to BJP’s Suresh Pujari in 2019. He had requested the party leadership to consider nominating him instead from Rairakhol Assembly seat.
One of the founder members of BJD, the party has shifted constituencies of Acharya several times during his long political career. Acharya was elected to the Lok Sabha from Sambalpur thrice in 1998, 1999 and 2004 after which he was asked to contest Assembly elections in 2009 from Rairakhol.
He was shifted to Bijepur in 2014 Assembly election and was defeated by Subal Sahu of Congress by 458 votes. After that Acharya was nominated to Rajya Sabha.