BHUBANESWAR: After outmanoeuvreing the BJD by inducting its prospective candidate for Nuapada by-election Jay Dholakia into BJP, the core committee of the saffron party held a meeting on Sunday to formalise his candidature.
The meeting chaired by state president Manmohan Samal in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and national general secretary in charge of Odisha Sunil Bansal is believed to have endorsed three names including Jay Dholakia as the probable candidates for the bypoll, scheduled for November 11.
“The core committee meeting is a mere formality simply because Jay has been drafted into the party to be its nominee for the bypoll with prior approval of the central leadership. However, as per the party norms, three names will be sent to the parliamentary board, the highest decision making authority, to pick one,” a leader said.
Former BJP president Basanta Panda, who is a member of the core committee, told mediapersons that the committee discussed strategy for the Nuapada bypoll and senior leaders were assigned specific tasks to secure a win for the party candidate. “The meeting also discussed about potential candidates and the parliamentary board of the party will take a call soon, as nomination papers are to be filed on October 13,” he said.
Panda further said the decision of the party will be final and once the name of the candidate is announced, it will be the responsibility of every worker and leader to work for his victory. Panda’s son, Abhinandan Panda, who unsuccessfully fought the last Assembly election on BJP ticket, is among the contenders for party nomination. The others include Jadumani Panigrahi, who contested as an Independent candidate in 2019, and chairperson of Khariar NAC Sonia Jain. The last date for filing nomination papers for the Nuapada by-election is October 20.
The core committee meeting, which ran for over two hours, also discussed about the progress achieved in the ongoing Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan to promote Indian goods in global supply chain, and preparations for the ‘Run for Unity’ march to be held from October 31.