BHUBANESWAR: A day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed three public meetings in Padampur Assembly segment, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will again hit the campaign trail on Saturday - one final time before the December 5 bypoll.Pradhan’s decision to campaign on the last day has assumed significance as the chief minister’s public meetings drew huge crowd at all three places on Friday.
The union minister had earlier campaigned for party candidate Pradip Purohit for three days from November 29 to December 1 across the constituency. All his road shows and public meetings had witnessed impressive turnout. On Saturday, Pradhan will attend public meetings at Jagdalpur of Jharbandh block followed by a roadshow in Padampur town.
It was at Padampur that the chief minister lashed out at the BJP’s union ministers for trying to mislead the people on Bargarh-Nuapada railway line project linking Padampur as well as on crop insurance for farmers.With the bypoll promising to be a close fight, none of the parties is willing to leave anything to chance since Padampur could prove crucial before the 2024 general elections.
The BJP has launched a high profile campaign to wrest the Padampur seat from BJD on the issues of under-development during the last 22 years. The ruling outfit, on its part, has left no stone unturned as it went all out to woo the voters of the Assembly segment with promise of district status for Padampur as well as freebies to certain communities.
With both sides resorting to tit-for-tat tax raids, the by-election has turned into a matter of prestige for the two parties. Since the election has been bitterly fought, Pradhan’s campaign after the chief minister’s public meetings is likely to give a push to the prospects of the BJP candidate.
DEVELOPMENT AT A STANDSTILL: APARAJITA
Bargarh: BJP’s Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi on Friday said development has come to a standstill in Bargarh. Addressing a public meeting at Padampur, Aparajita said, “I was the collector of Bargarh 20 years back. It is disheartening to see that all the towns of the district including Padampur look exactly the same as they were back then.”
Terming Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s assurance of granting district status to Padampur by 2023 as misleading, Aparajita said it was a move to woo voters. She also accused Naveen of being unaccessible. “How long will we have a leader who is only available on video-conferencing? If the CM is really concerned about the people of Odisha, I dare him to visit every village, interact with the public and know their problems,” the MP added.