Summary:
In a dramatic turn of event, Sethy, who was the BJP’s nominee for the seat, returned to BJD fold on March 29. A group of BJD workers from Niali recently met Naveen and requested not to give ticket to Mallick accusing him a ‘corrupt politician’.The ruling party has also repeated sitting legislators, Samir Ranjan Dash and Surendra Sethi, from Nimapada and Kakatpur assembly segments.With this, the BJD has announced candidates for total 128 assembly seats. Former MLA Rajendra Das has replaced Muktikanta in Dhamnagar as BJD nominee.Despite protest from a section of party workers, the BJD president reposed faith on two-time MLA Pramod Mallick from Niali seat.Supporters and rivals of the surgeon-turned-politician recently clashed outside the chief minister’s residence here. Sethy, who was the BJD MLA from Anandpur during 2009-14, had left the party and joined BJP in December 2014.As veteran leader Damodar Rout, who recently joined BJP, is in the fray from Balikuda-Ersama assembly segment, BJD fielded Raghunandan Das against Damodar while sitting legislator Prasanta Muduli has been shifted to Jagatsinghpur assembly segment.In 2014, Raghunandan had fought from the Balikuda-Ersama seat as an independent candidate after BJD denied him a ticket and secured 32,135 votes. His remarks “justice was done to the victim” triggered row.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue to criticize the Naveen Patnaik government during a rally at Baripada on January 5, a day after which Maharathy had resigned from the cabinet.The BJD also fielded former MLA Bhagirathi Sethi from Anandpur constituency..