TNI Bureau: The sons, daughters and wives of the senior party leaders dominated the first phase BJD candidates’ list for Elections 2024 which was released by party president Naveen Patnaik yesterday.
Candidates for a total of 72 out of 147 assembly seats and 15 out of 21 Lok Shabha seats were named by Patnaik. However, he has picked the sons, daughters and wives of several party veterans.
The party has fielded Usha Devi’s son Chinmay Nanda Srirupdev from Chikiti, deceased Surjya Narayan Patro’s son Biplab Patro from Digapahandi and Maheshwar Mohanty’s son Sunil Mohanty from Puri.
In Patkura, Bijoy Mohapatra’ son Arvind Mohapatra and in Loisingha Jogendra Behera’s son Nihar Ranjan Behera have been fielded by the ruling party.
The conch party also named Pradeep Maharathi’s son Rudra Prasad Maharathi from Pipili, Bijayshree Routray’s son Bishnubrata Routray from Basudevpur. Pravat Biswal’s son Souvik Biswal, Prafulla Ghadei’ son Pritiranjan Ghadai, Kalpataru Das’ son Pranab Balabantray got the nod again from Cuttack-Choudwar, Sukinda and Dharmasala respectively.
Similarly, former Surada MLA Purana Chandra Swain’s wife Sanghamitra Swain and Nabarangpur MLA Sadasiva Pradhani’s wife Kaushalya Pradhani have been picked by Patnaik.
Lalita Nayak, the wife of Dushmant Nayak, and Subasini Jena, the wife of Rabindra Jena have been named as party candidates from Bhawanipatna and Basta respectively.
Moreover, former Rayagada MLA’s daughter Anusuya Majhi has been selected to contest the assembly election in Rayagada. In Umerkote, former MLA Subash Gond’s wife Nabina Nayak has got the nod.
For Aska Lok Sabha seats, Ranjita Sahu has been selected by the party supremo. She is the daughter of Hara Prasad Sahu, the former chairman of Kodala notified area council.
Surprisingly, the BJD president named senior Congress MLA Sura Routray’s younger son Manmath Routray to fight the Lok Sabha Elections from Bhubaneswar seat.