KENDRAPARA: The prestigious Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat is all set to witness a three-cornered fight in the upcoming elections.
A high-stakes battle is on the cards as national vice-president of BJP and the party’s candidate Baijayant Panda is looking to wrest the Kendrapara LS seat from BJD. The former MP had lost the seat to BJD’s Anubhav Mohanty in 2019 polls. This time, he is locking horns with BJD candidate Anshuman Mohanty and Siddhartha Swarup Das of Congress.
Exuding confidence of winning the seat, Panda said the BJP wave has gripped both rural and urban areas as people want Narendra Modi to become the Prime Minister for the third time. “The change that Odisha needs will start from Kendrapara. BJP will form the government both at the Centre and the state as people are determined to vote for the saffron party candidates,” he said.
Panda further said Kendrapara district was not connected with rail. Due to the Modi-led government at the Centre, passenger and goods trains are running in the district now. “I have been working for the welfare of people of Kendrapara for more than 15 years despite losing in the last election. I am confident of winning the seat this time,” he added.
Panda was a BJD Rajya Sabha member from 2000 to 2009. Subsequently, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kendrapara twice as a BJD candidate in 2009 and in 2014. In 2018, he resigned from BJD and joined BJP. However, he lost to the BJD candidate by a margin of 1,81,483 votes in 2019 election.
BJD’s Mohanty also expressed confidence that the ruling party will retain Kendrapara seat. “The BJD government has carried out many development works in the district. Voters will definitely vote in favour of BJD in the upcoming polls,” he added. A former MLA of Rajnagar, Mohanty resigned from Congress last month and joined the ruling party.
Congress candidate Das said the party will win from Kendrapara this time as BJD and BJP governments in the state and Centre have failed to deliver anything to the people so far.