Congress hopeful to bag 60 assembly and 11 LS seats in Odisha

The Congress had 26 MLAs in the outgoing assembly.

Of the six Congress MPs elected from Odisha in 2009, five were from western part of the state, where elections were held in the first phase. The party had won Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Sambalpur and Sundargarh Lok Sabha seats.

Union minister Srikant Jena, who seeking re-election from Balasore constituency, was the only Congress candidate to get elected to the Lok Sabha from the coastal region in 2009.

"Disgruntled with corrupt Naveen Patnaik government, people have voted for us," said Jena, who was contesting from Anandpur assembly seat.

"Selection of good candidates is also one of the reasons why people have voted for us," he added.

It may be noted, there was resentment among the Congress leaders that the national leaders and star campaigners of the party only attended public meetings in the constituencies where party heavy weights were contesting while leaving others to fend for themselves.

During the campaign trail, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had addressed rallies at Nuapada and Balasore district. While Union minister Jena is contesting from Balasore, Nuapada falls in the Kalahandi Lok Sabha seat represented by sitting MP, Bhakta Das. Das earlier worked as a spokesperson of the party at the national level. Similarly, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi during his whistlestop visit to the state, among other places, had addressed rally in tribal dominated Nabarangpur, which is currently represented by party MP, Pradip Majhi, who is thought to be close to Gandhi.