KENDRAPARA/BHADRAK: BJP heavyweights Baijayant Panda and Manmohan Samal and Congress veteran Niranjan Patnaik filed their nomination papers in Kendrapara and Bhadrak districts on Friday.
Baijayant, the BJP’s national vice-president and candidate from Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, reached the district collector’s office in a mega roadshow and submitted his papers before the returning officer. He was accompanied by a large number of BJP supporters.
After filing his nomination papers, Baijayant said, “The change that Odisha needs will start from Kendrapara. The BJP will form governments both at the Centre and in Odisha as the people of the state are now determined to vote for saffron party candidates.”
He further said Kendrapara was not connected with rail. Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government connected the coastal district with trains. Now, both passenger and goods trains are running in the district.
Baijayant also accused the BJD government of failing to develop the state during its more than two decades of rule. “The Congress and BJD got ample time to develop Odisha. However, both the parties failed miserably. Tribals and dalits, who were once considered as traditional voters of Congress and BJD, are no longer with them. History will be created in Odisha in 2024 with the BJP coming to power. A double-engine BJP government at the Centre and in Odisha can improve the lives of people of the state,” he said.
Baijayant is locking horns with BJD’s Ansuman Mohanty and Sidharth Swarup Das of Congress. Kendrapara will go to polls on June 1 .
Similarly, state BJP president and the saffron party’s candidate from Chandabali Assembly seat Manmohan filed his nominations in Bhadrak. His massive nomination rally covered important areas of Chandabali. In Bhadrak town, thousands of his supporters and BJP workers took him in a huge procession to the DRDA office where he submitted his nomination papers to the returning officer.
On the day, Congress candidate from Bhandaripokhari Assembly seat Niranjan also filed his papers in Bhadrak collector’s office. He too arrived in a huge rally of Congress workers.
