The Hindu : New faces in BJD Assembly list

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

National

National

New faces in BJD Assembly list

By Prafulla Das

BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 22. The ruling Biju Janata Dal in Orissa today announced the candidates for the 84 Assembly seats. At least one-third of the candidates are new faces.

Releasing the list at a press conference, the Chief Minister and BJD president, Naveen Patnaik, said winnability was the yardstick in selecting the nominees.

The party had denied ticket to as many as 16 sitting members, including the Assembly Speaker, Sarat Kumar Kar, and the Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare, Bishnupriya Behera.

The party has decreased the number of women candidates to four from seven in the February 2000 elections. Mr. Patnaik would contest from the Hinjili Assembly segment in Ganjam district from where he had won last time.

Like in the list of its candidates for the 12 Lok Sabha seats, the party has accommodated defectors from the Congress.

In the Koraput Assembly seat, it has fielded the former Congressman, Gupta Prasad Das, and in Rourkela Sarada Nayak.

Both Mr. Das and Mr. Nayak had joined the party on Sunday.

Although Mr. Patnaik had been critical of dynastic politics, he chose Kalikesh Singh Deo, son of the former Steel and Mines Minister, A.U. Singh Deo, for the Saintala Assembly segment in Bolangir district.

The senior Singh Deo would contest from the Bolangir Assembly seat, which he represented in the dissolved Assembly.

Of the total 147 seats in the State Assembly, the BJD's partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party, will contest from the remaining 63 seats.

The BJP had announced the names of its candidates for as many as 56 seats. The candidates for the remaining seven seats will be announced in a day or two.

Significantly, the alliance partners failed to reach an agreement on exchanging some Assembly seats.

The leaders of both parties had earlier announced that they would exchange a few seats while keeping the arrangement to 84-63 as in the last elections.

In the case of the 21 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP will fight in the remaining nine seats.

The Congress is lagging behind the alliance. Although it has announced the names for a few Lok Sabha seats and one Assembly segment, it is still struggling to finalise the list for the remaining seats.

The party has also not taken a decision on the number of seats it would give to other smaller parties.

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