Senior BJD leaders held hectic parleys at the Naveen Niwas here on Wednesday to prepare plans for the Bijepur Assembly by-election.
Prasanna Acharya, Debi Prasad Mishra, Prasanta Nanda, Pranab Prakash Das and party observer for Bargarh district Minister Prafulla Mallick were among those present.
Mallick told reporters that the ongoing BJD Jansampark padyatra would be intensified in Bijepur constituency at the ward level.
later, a meeting presided over by BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik was held at the party office and efforts were made to pacify the Bargarh district dissident leaders and their supporters, who have been antagonised by the joining of deceased Congress MlA Subal Sahu’s wife Rita Sahu in the BJD.
However, BJD vice-president and Minister Damodar Rout said Prasanna Acharya should be given charge of the Bijepur constituency as he had fought the last elections there. If Acharya had not been elected to the Rajya Sabha, he would have been the party candidate, Rout said.
Rout further said the people of the constituency would vote for the BJD seeing the development works done by the Naveen Patnaik Government.