BHUBANESWAR: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi will revisit the state to campaign for the party’s candidates scheduled to fight the elections in the fourth and final phase on June 1.
Announcing this at a media conference on Sunday, Odisha in-charge Ajoy Kumar said the two senior leaders will address separate election meetings in Balasore and Bhadrak Lok Sabha constituencies for their party candidates. Congress sources said position of party candidates in these LS constituencies is better as compared to other seats going to polls in the last phase and the party may win from these two seats.
Kumar said Kharge will arrive on May 29 and address election meetings at Balasore and Bhadrak on the day. Similarly, Rahul will reach on May 30 and attend a meeting at Sanamahitpur in Simulia of Balasore district. Rahul’s visit is considered crucial as it is likely to have an impact on the performance of Congress candidates in Bhadrak, Balasore Lok Sabha constituencies and other Assembly seats.
Former Union minister Srikant Jena of Congress is pitted against another former Union minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi of BJP and BJD nominee Lekhasri Samantsinghar. In Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat, senior Congress leader Ananta Prasad Sethi is locked in a triangular fight with sitting MP Manjulata Mandal of BJD and Avimanyu Sethi of BJP. Besides, former president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik has entered the fray from Bhandaripokhari Assembly segment.
Rahul had earlier campaigned twice in Odisha. He had launched an election campaign for Congress in the state from Salipur in Cuttack district on April 28 and held an election rally in Balangir on May 15. Kharge had also visited Odisha on May 16 and addressed an election meeting at Phulbani.