JAJPUR: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dropped a surprise by nominating Sujata Sahoo, a self help group (SHG) leader, as candidate for the Jajpur Assembly seat.
Sujata, president of the Jajpur district Mission Shakti Federation, will now fight from the prestigious constituency which was held by BJD organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das for three consecutive terms.
The unexpected nomination of Sujata is compounded by the fact that she had neither expressed interest in nor applied for the BJD ticket for the upcoming Assembly elections.
“I could not ever dream of getting the BJD ticket to contest from the prestigious Jajpur Assembly seat. It came as a huge surprise as I was neither interested nor I applied for the party ticket. I will strive to live up to the party’s expectations and people of the Jajpur Assembly segment by offering my best services,” she said.
Fifty-year-old Sujata had served as the chairperson of Dasarathapur block in the district from 2017 to 2022. Expressing her surprise and gratitude, Sujata assured to fulfill the party’s expectations and serve the people of the Jajpur Assembly segment diligently.
On the other hand, both the opposition Congress and BJP are yet to announce their contenders for the Assembly seat.
Potential frontrunners for the Congress ticket include Santosh Kumar Nanda, Baladhadra Das and Sudeep Kar, while Jajpur BJP district president Goutam Ray and Sangram Keshari Patra are leading contenders for the BJP ticket.