Biju Patnaik during his tenure as Chief Minister never came for campaigning during by-electionS. Reason: He took it as
undignified for a CM. And this time Naveen, his son, also followed in his father’s footprint since he didn’t come for the Brajarajnagar Assembly by-election in Jharsuguda district scheduled on Tuesday.

But previously he addressed many meetings for by-election for his party candidate including in Bijepur and hence came under criticism since his father never did so and openly said that CM should not come for a by-election as it is a small issue.

This time after the death of Kishore Mohanty, the MLA from Brajarajnagar, by-election became necessary and it was declared earlier that the CM would also address public meetings in favour of party candidate and wife of Kishore , Alaka Mohanty.

Central Minister Dharmendra Pradhan came for party candidate Radharani Panda to seek public support. Pradhan addressed a public meeting also and made road shows in different places. But as declared earlier, Raman Singh, the former CM of neighbouring Chhatisgarh or any other heavyweight leaders didn’t come for campaigning.

State leaders of Congress including PCC president Sarat Pattanaik, former president Niranjan Patnaik were also seen very active in Brajarajnagar this time forgetting differences. Their intention was to increase the vote percentage for Kishore Patel, the party nominee.

BJD’s senior leaders camped at Belpahar, Brajarajnagar and Jharsuguda, and daring the scorching heat met villagers, addressed meetings in the area allocated to them. But Naveen made a history this time by completely depending on his leaders and didn’t come for any meeting,
may be due to the assurance from his party people for the comfortable position of the party.