Congress gives ticket to ex-CM's son, changes nominees at three seats in Odisha

Congress gives ticket to ex-CM’s son, changes nominees at three seats in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR: The Congress, which on Sunday announced tickets for 75 more assembly seats, has changed candidates at three places days after their candidatures were declared.

Former chief minister and Congress stalwart late J B Patnaik’s son Pruthvi will debut from Begunia, while former Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik (82), who had unsuccessfully contested simultaneously from Bhandaripokhari and Ghasipura seats in 2019, has been nominated from Bhandaripokhari.

Congress, which on April 2 nominated former captain of the Indian hockey team Prabodh Tirkey from Talrasa assembly seat in Sundargarh district, has replaced him with Devendra Bhitaria. “I do not know why the party changed my candidature,” said Tirkey. The party nominated Upendra Pradhan from Baliguda seat in place of Surada Pradhan, who was granted a ticket recently. Bipin Bihari Swain has been nominated from Kabisuryanagar replacing earlier candidate Chiranjeevi Bisoyi.

Congress has not picked anyone for the Barabati-Cuttack seat as the Orissa high court recently upheld the verdict of a special vigilance court that sentenced its sitting MLA Mohammed Moquim and others to three-year imprisonment in a loan fraud case. The party may nominate his kin for the key seat.

In 2019, Pruthvi’s candidature from Begunia was formally announced by the party. However, Pruthvi left the Congress brass embarrassed by declining to contest. Begunia was twice represented by J B Patnaik in 1995 and 2004.

Congress has introduced Sujit Mahapatra, a new and young face for the Puri assembly seat, where its performance was abysmal in 2019. Congress nominee Auro Prasad Mishra polled only 2,934 votes in Puri in 2019. Mahapatra will be pitted against BJP’s outgoing MLA Jayant Sarangi and BJD nominee Sunil Mohanty.

Jayadev Jena, a four-time former MLA from Anandapur, has been renominated from the same seat where he had lost to BJD’s Bhagirathi Sethy in the 2019 elections. Former MLA Devendra Sharma’s daughter Debasmita Sharma, who is a doctor, has been picked by the party to contest from Aul seat, which was won by her father in 2014.

Congress has so far announced candidates for 17 Lok Sabha and 122 assembly seats. The party has spared a few seats (Lok Sabha and assembly) for CPI, CPM and JMM as a part of their seat-sharing agreement.

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