Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with his select cabinet colleagues will campaign for BJD candidate Barsha Singh Bariha in the December 5 bypoll to Padampur assembly constituency in Bargarh district.
The BJP, the main opposition party in the state, named union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Arjun Munda and Bishweswar Tudu as star campaigners for its nominee Pradip Purohit for the by-election.
The Congress also released its star campaigner list, which included state in-charge of AICC, Dr A Chella Kumar, AICC secretary G Rudra Raju, the party’s state unit president Sarat Pattnayak, Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra.
The party nominated Satya Bhusan Sahu for the bypoll.
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Apart from Patnaik, senior leaders Pranab Prakash Das, Prasanna Achraya and state ministers RP Swain, PK Deb and Atanu S Nayak are among those included in the 40-member list of the ruling BJD.
The BJP also named its state unit president Samir Mohanty, leader of opposition in the Odisha Assembly, Jayanarayan Mishra, and former MP Baijayanta Panda as its star campaigners for the by-election.
Newly elected Dhamnagar MLA Suryabashi Suraj will also canvass for the BJP candidate in Padampur.
The bypoll to Padampur assembly constituency was necessitated by the demise of BJD MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha October 3.
PTI