BHUBANESWAR: The Congress is likely to have seat adjustments with the two Left parties and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) as part of INDIA bloc alignment in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
Sources said, while the Aska seat may be given to CPI, the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat may go in favour of the CPM. In both the seats Congress does not have any strong contenders and the Left parties have a traditional base. Similarly, the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat is likely to be given to the JMM.
Both Congress and Left party leaders, however, maintained that formal talks on seat sharing will start in the first week of January. Congress sources said that the party is mainly focusing on western and southern Odisha where it sees more chances than the coastal belt.
Sources also said that president of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi are likely to address their first public meeting at Sundargarh.
The state leadership of the party wants Kharge and Gandhi to start their campaign from the tribal-dominated district where the party candidate George Tirkey had polled more than 2.68 lakh votes and finished third in the 2019 election.
The difference of votes between the BJD candidate Sunita Biswal and Tirkey was only 7,000. Jual Oram of BJP had won from the seat by polling more than 5 lakh votes.
Stating that people of Sundargarh are fed up with both the BJD and BJP, OPCC president Sarat Pattanayak said that people of the constituency will vote for Congress this time.
Former chief minister Hemanand Biswal of Congress had won from the seat in 2009 election.
Pattanayak visited Sundargarh on Sunday to discuss with the district leaders on the possible visit of Kharge and Gandhi in January.