Fight between spokespersons on Puri Lok Sabha seat

The Puri Lok Sabha Constituency is all set to witness an interesting poll battle between spokespersons of three parties--BJP, Congress and the BJD.

Congress Friday fielded its Odisha unit media cell chairman Satyaprakash Nayak against spokespersons of the BJP and the BJD.

The journalist-turned-politician Nayak will take on BJP's national spokesperson Sambit Patra besides sitting BJD MP Pinaki Mishra, a spokesman of the regional party.

Nayak's name was among the seven Lok Sabha candidates and 20 assembly candidates announced by AICC's Central Election Committee (CEC) Friday.

Of the seven names, the Congress has brought back its old war horse like K P Singhdeo to contest from Dhenkanal Lok Sabha seat. Singhdeo had been a six time MP and was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1967 on Swatantra Party ticket.

The Congress also named Navajyoti Patnaik, son of OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik as its candidate to fight from Balasore Lok Sabha seat while PCC vice president Ananta Sethi's daughter Madhumita Sethi will be in the fray from Bhadrak Lok Sabha constituency.

Other Lok Sabha candidates are: Fakir Mohan Nayak- Keonjhar (ST), Dharanidhar Nayak -Kendrapada (General) and Pratima Mallick-Jagatsinghpur (SC)
Earlier, the party had announced name of candidates for eight Lok Sabha seats. They were: Pradeep Kumar Debata (Bargarh-ST), George Tirkey (Sundargarh-ST), Bhakta Charan Das (Kalahandi-General), Pradip Majhi (Nabarangpur-ST), Manoj Kumar Acharya (Kandhamal-General), V. Chandrasekhar Naidu (Berhampur-General), Samarendra Mishra (Balangir-General) and Saptagiri Ullaka (Koraput-ST)