Basta: Ending all speculations, the Congress has announced its candidate for the Basta Assembly seat in Balasore while the BJD and the BJP have left their decision on nomination of candidates hanging.
Two leaders, Bijan Nayak and Sanjiv Padhi, were in the race for the Congress ticket, but the party reposed faith in the former. The Congress workers have gone overdrive after announcement of the candidate.
Bijan Nayak is said to be a good organiser for the party in the Assembly segment. In the last elections, the Congress had managed to grab the post of block chairperson.
In the last 30 years, non-Congress candidates were elected from the seat though Congress nominees as the nearest rivals have always given a tough fight.
Bijan Nayak had made his show of strength by organising two rallies at Darada and Baliapal before announcement of his nomination. OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik was present on the occasion and was convinced about Bijan’s organisational ability.
Congress workers were more enthused over the fact that Nabajyoti Patnaik, the son of the OPCC president, was declared as nominee for the Balasore Parliamentary seat. Nabajyoti had discussed with party workers from 17 panchayats recently about the party strategies at Basta. Surprisingly, some ticket aspirants were found united at the meeting.
In the 2014 assembly polls, the Congress had fielded Jaynarayan Mohanty of Baliapal. Mohanty was defeated by the BJD candidate a margin of 6,433 votes.
But for the forthcoming polls, the Congress has experimented with a young leader like Bijan.
Now, party workers of various sections say, they would leave no stone unturned to ensure win of the party nominee, since the party has reposed faith in the young blood.
On the other hand, workers of the BJP and the BJD have been eagerly awaiting announcement of their nominees.
BJD leader and former minister Raghunath Mohanty was said to be an aspirant for the Basta Assembly seat.
Amid speculation about possible nominees, Mohanty Saturday tendered his resignation from the post of chairman of the Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation (OLIC).
He informed that he has resigned from OLIC due to personal reasons. When asked whether he would be contesting from Basta, the former minister said that the decision regarding this will be taken by party supremo Naveen Patnaik.
PNN