BJD picks up old guards for Cuttack district

Odisha Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik has picked up the sitting MP and almost all sitting MLAs of Cuttack district to contest next month's twin elections.
For the fifth consecutive time editor turned politician Bhartruhari Mahatab received BJD ticket to contest the prestigious Cuttack parliamentary seat.
The party also decided to field sitting MLAs -- Pratap Jena for Mahanga Assembly segment, Pravat Biswal for Choudwar-Cuttack seat and Pravat Tripathy for Banki.
Similarly, legislators Debashis Samantray, Ranendra Pratap Swain and minister Devi Prasad Mishra would contest from their respective segments of Barabati-Cuttack, Athgarh and Badamba.
The five time MLA and former minister Kalindi Behera, who represented the Cuttack Sadar seat in the outgoing Assembly, has been dropped from the list.

Instead, his son Chandrasarathi Behera, who was the sitting MLA of Salipur, would contest from Cuttack Sadar.
The party has fielded the Cuttack Zilla Parishad chairman and former MLA Dharmananda Behera's son Prakash Behera to contest the Salipur seat.