The Hindu : National : BJD attracting most ticket-seekers orissa

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Monday, Mar 16, 2009
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National

BJD attracting most ticket-seekers orissa

Prafulla Das

Congress holds screening process for candidates
BJD likely to share seats with CPI(M), CPI and others

BHUBANESWAR: As political equations are changing fast in Orissa, following the break-up of the alliance between the Biju Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party, leaders of all major parties are working overtime to give final touches to their plans to contest the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The three major parties — the BJD, the Congress and the BJP — have started roping in ticket aspirants belonging to different parties as well as other walks of life before finalising their list of candidates.

Among the three parties, the BJP has already released the names of its candidates for seven of the 21 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress too has prepared a list of probable candidates for the Parliamentary constituencies.

The party carried out the screening process for selecting nominees for the 147 Assembly seats on Sunday.

The BJD, however, has been lagging behind in comparison with the BJP and the Congress. The hullabaloo created by the BJP and the Congress over the trust vote in the Assembly has delayed the BJD’s candidate selection process.

At present, the BJD is attracting the maximum number of ticket-seekers followed by the Congress, while the BJP has been struggling to choose candidates to contest all Lok Sabha and Assembly seats.

While the Congress and the BJP are likely to contest all seats on their own, it is expected that the BJD will share some seats with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India and other parties. The BJD, however, is yet to hold talks with these parties.

Meanwhile, the BJP is all set to launch its campaign with a State-level rally here on Monday. Senior party leader Sushma Swaraj and other leaders were likely to address the rally.

Samruddha Odisha, a regional political outfit, released its manifesto on Sunday. Among other things, the party promised that if voted to power it would make available fertilizers for farmers at Re. 1 per kg and issue land patta for two acres to each tribal family.

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