BJD deserters Baijayant, Balabhadra among BJP's 1st list of LS candidates

BHUBANESWAR: Industrialist-turned politician Baijayant Jay Panda and Balabhadra Majhi , both of whom were elected to Lok Sabha on BJD tickets in 2014 and had joined the BJP recently, figure in the first BJP list of 10 LS candidates from Odisha .


The BJP has fielded Panda from Kendrapada and Majhi from Nabarangpur, the seats they held in the outgoing LS.

The 21 LS seats in Odisha will go to poll in four phases on April 11, April 18, April 23 an April 29.

The BJP list has three women out of the 10 candidates named, almost matching with its arch rival Biju Janata Dal (BJD) which has fielded three women out of the nine candidates it has named so far.

Bureaucrat-turned politician Aparajita Sarangi, who had taken voluntary retirement last year and joined the BJP, was named party candidate from Bhubaneswar. Sarangi, who last worked as joint secretary, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on central deputation, had taken voluntary retirement and joined the BJP in in November last year. She has worked in Bhubaneswar as municipal commissioner earlier.

Anita Priyadarshini, daughter of former state minister Ramakrushna Patnaik and former Aska MP Kumudini Patnaik , has been fielded from Aska. Anita’s mother Kumudini was elected from Aska LS seat in a byelection on a BJD ticket in 2000 after BJD president Naveen Patnaik vacated the seat to take over as chief minister of Odisha. Ramakrushna was Naveen Patnaik’s first finance minister (2000-2002) and is a six-time former MLA (Utkal Congress once, Janata Dal four times and BJD once)

Former MP from Balangir Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo of Patnagarh royal family will contest from Balangir while Union minister Jual Oram has been fielded from Sundargarh that he represented in the outgoing LS. Other candidates announced include Ananta Naik (Keonjhar), Pratap Sarangi (Balasore), Rudra Narayan Pani (Dhenkanal) and Bhrugu Baxipatra (Berhampur).