BJD completes list for all 147 Assembly seats
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced the names of the candidates for the last two Assembly seats, thereby completing the list of all the 147 Assembly nominees of the party.
While former Minister Bed Prakash Agrawal would contest from his old seat Patkura, Dr Pramod Mallick would contest from Niali, the seat he holds now. In fact, BJD sources said, Patnaik refrained from changing the two sitting MlAs for the fear of dissidence among the party’s rank and file in their constituencies. He was earlier apparently mulling fielding new faces in both constituencies, for which he took so long to announce the names of the candidates.
While the decision on Agrawal was delayed in view of opposition to him from a section of local party people, there were certain allegations against Dr Mallick. But in the light of strong dissensions in the party in the constituencies
where sitting MlAs and MPs have been denied tickets this time, Patnaik apparently wanted to play it safe in Patkura and Niali.
In fact, Patnaik has dropped as many as 35 MlAs and six MPs of the party from the lists for the April 10 and 17 general elections.