BHUBANESWAR: The central election committee of All Indian Congress Committee (AICC) announced candidates for two Parliamentary constituencies and 13 Assembly seats in the state on Saturday.
The committee changed candidates of one Lok Sabha and three Assembly segments while approving the nomination of Binod Bihari Nayak for Keonjhar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency in place of Mohan Hembram following protests within the district unit of the party.
The Keonjhar district unit of Congress had been on a warpath with resignation of all the district functionaries after Hembram, a former corporator of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, was parachuted as Lok Sabha candidate. The district leaders of the party through a media conference accused PCC president Sarat Pattanyak of selling the ticket.
The party has nominated Dulal Chandra Pradhan and Debokanta Sharma for Sambalpur and Aska Lok Sabha seats respectively. Faced with similar protests from party leaders and workers, Congress replaced Jaydev (SC) candidate Jayant Kumar Bhoi with Krushna Sagaria, Kantamal candidate Manoj Kumar Acharya with Sarat Kumar Pradhan and Kabisuryanagar nominee Bipin Bihari Swain with Sanjaya Kumar Mandal.
Notable among the candidates announced by the party are Amita Biswal for Jharsuguda and Siddarth Routray for Nimapara. Amita, the daughter of former chief minister late Hemananda Biswal, was interested to contest from Talsara Assembly segment under Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat. However, the party preferred former captain of Hockey India Prabodh Tirkey who was replaced by Debendra Bhitira.
Amita’s nomination from Jharsuguda came after she met Sonia Gandhi at her New Delhi residence on April 17. Curiously, the party has named Siddarth, son of expelled Congress leader Suresh Kumar Routray, from Nimapara seat. A Congress veteran and former minister, the senior Routray was expelled from the party for anti-party activities after he was found campaigning for his other son and BJD nominee for Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat Manmath Routray.
Sonali Sahoo who recently quit BJP has been nominated from Khurda seat. Sahoo was an active member of Congress before she shifted to BJP with the hope of getting a ticket. Former Phulbani MP Nakula Nayak has been nominated by the party from Daspalla (SC) seat. Elected to Lok Sabha in 1989 on a Janata Dal ticket, Nayak is in political wilderness since then.