Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday claimed that the BJP would surely win the elections in the Patkura Assembly constituency in Kendrapada district scheduled to be held on July 20.
Pradhan observed that a “sympathy” factor would help BJP candidate Bijay Mohapatra to win the seat. He was obviously referring to Mohapatra’s series of defeats in the Assembly polls in Kendrapada district after he was ousted from the ruling BJD, for which people of the area would come in Mohapatra’s support this time.
And Pradhan was also apparently countering the hope in the BJD circles that BJD candidate Sabitri Agrawalla would definitely win the election out of sympathy because her husband Bed Prakash Agrawalla, who was the party nominee for the April elections, died, leading to countermanding of the elections in Patkura and rescheduling it on July 20.
The Congress has fielded Jayanta Kumar Mohanty
as its candidate for the Patkura elections.