BHUBANESWAR: With the BJP launching an aggressive campaign to wrest the Padampur Assembly seat, all eyes are now on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the ruling BJD’s trump card in every election. The question before the BJD leaders and workers now is whether the chief minister will campaign physically for party candidate Barsha Singh Bariha.
The ruling party supremo had last hit the campaign trail in the Bijepur bypoll held on October 21, 2019, which party candidate Rita Sahu had won by a record margin of 97,990 votes. After Bijepur, the chief minister has virtually campaigned for party candidates in the rest of the five by-elections.
Of the six bypolls held after 2019, the BJD has won five including the Balasore seat which it wrested from the BJP. Senior leaders of the party are now having second thoughts over whether the chief minister should campaign virtually for Padampur where the fight has become increasingly tough.
Fresh from the Dhamnagar victory, the BJP camp is optimistic of a repeat performance there and senior BJD leaders now want the chief minister to campaign physically. Campaign head of BJD, former Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya told TNIE that the physical campaign of the chief minister has an altogether different impact.
“We have requested him to campaign physically here,” he said. Sources at the party, however, said things will become clear after two to three days. The chief minister may visit the constituency towards the end of the campaign period on December 1 or 2. However, no decision has been taken in this regard so far.