BJD relies on old timers, retains 5 Lok Sabha MPs

BHUBANESWAR: Biju Janta Dal's (BJD) best known parliament faces, Baijayant Panda, Bhartrujhari Mahtab, Tathagat Sathpaty, Arjun Charan Sethi and Pinaki Misra have retained their 2009 constituencies. BJD also gave Rabindra Jena, a former MD of Pramod Mittal owned Balasore Alloys, a ticket to the Lok Sabha, from where Congress' Srikant Jena is also contesting. And nominated a sitting MLA to contest for parliament from Mayurbhanj replacing sitting MP Laxman Tudu.

Naveen Patnaik has been forced to do a rethink, for the second time in a week. The party today announced that veteran leader A U Singh Deo would give up his Rajya Sabha seat, won last month, to fight assembly elections. The high profile constituency of Bolangir is a Singh Deo fiefdom of sorts, son and sitting MP Kalikesh Singh Deo was nominated to the Lok Sabha again opposite his aunt Sangeeta Singh Deo who is BJP's nominee.

Singh Deo was hopeful that younger son, 28 year old Arkesh, would get the Bolangir's assembly seat. "The CM was not keen to give three members of a family representation from the same are and that was understood even when he (AU Singh Deo) was offered a Rajya Sabha seat.

They suggested Harekrishna Sarangi (a political manager and close associate of the Singhdeos)," said a senior BJD leader asking not to be named. Party worker however weren't happy about the nominations of Sarangi's who they saw as a "dummy" candidate. "The party had honoured my father with a Rajya sabha seat. The people of Bolangir wanted him to run for assembly, the party sensing this desire has asked him to," Kalikesh SInghdeo told ET.

A U Singh Deo's is yet one more RS seat that's likely to be vacated.

Hockey star Dilip Tirkey will have to give up his upper house seat if he wins Sundergarh, as will Rabinarayan Mahapatra who will be contesting assembly elections from Ranpur. Former Odisha minister and hotelier Dilip Ray who also holds a RS seat is fighting elections on a BJP ticket from Rourkela.