Bhadrak: A day after bagging the Dhamnagar Assembly segment in a bypoll, BJP leader Suryabanshi Suraj urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to initiate the process of bringing about development in the constituency and fulfil the promise he made before the elections. Suraj, son of MLA Bishnu Charan Sethi whose death necessitated the bypoll, also said that Naveen Patnaik, as the chief minister of Odisha, should keep his word, notwithstanding the BJD’s defeat in election.
Patnaik, during his virtual address to people of the constituency October 31, had given assurance that development in Dhamnagar would be his responsibility.
“I humbly urge Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to keep the promise he made during his virtual address to people ahead of the election,” the 27-year-old leader, who made his electoral debut with the bypoll, said Monday.
“Patnaik is the chief minister of Odisha and not of any party. It is another matter that the BJD lost the election. I request him to help bring development to the place,” Suraj added.
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Flowers and sweets were distributed among people by BJP members during the day to celebrate the win. Suraj clinched the seat after defeating the ruling BJD’s Abanti Das by 9,881 votes.
Women in large numbers stood on the two sides of the road as the procession passed and showered flowers on the BJP leader, who greeted them with a ‘namaskar’.
“I am still a novice and did nothing extraordinary to win the elections. It is the people who made me the MLA. They campaigned for me and blessed me,” Suraj said.
“Having lost my father some months ago, I was alone facing challenges. It is my bigger family (people of Dhamnagar) who stood by me all along,” Suraj, a BTech graduate, told reporters. Asked if he would want to be identified as an engineer or an MLA, Suraj added that he would rather be known as a ‘sevak’ (servant) of Dhamnagar people.