Naveen Patnaik tasks 7 ministers, 18 MLAs with ensuring BJD's win in Patkura assembly poll

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik Monday tasked seven senior ministers and 18 MLAs with ensuring the party's victory in the July 20 Patkura assembly election.

The Odisha chief minister took the decision at a meeting of party leaders at his residence to defeat his friend-turned-foe Bijoy Mohapatra of the BJP, who will be taking on BJD greenhorn Sabitri Agarwal.

Sabitri Agarwal is the widow of former minister and sitting Patkura MLA Bed Prakash Agarwal, whose death on April 20 led to postponement of election for the assembly segment. Patkura was scheduled to go to polls on April 29.

The polls, which were rescheduled for May 19, were again postponed due to Cyclone Fani.

Patnaik has made the Patkura election a "prestige issue" and has asked senior BJD leaders to work in all the 51 gram panchayats of the constituency to ensure Agarwal's victory, party sources said.

He also directed the MLAs to work under the supervision of the ministers in specific areas of the constituency, they said.

Senior ministers who were assigned the task of ensuring BJD's victory are Prafulla Mallick, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Sushant Kumar Singh, Samir Ranjan Dash, Raghunandan Das and Divya Shankar Mishra, the sources said.

Mohapatra, a founding member of the BJD, had quit the party ahead of the 2000 Odisha Assembly polls after he was denied ticket from Patkura, a seat he had won four times.

He lost from the seat in 2004, 2009 and 2014 mainly due to Patnaik throwing his weight behind the BJD candidates from the seat.

Sabitri Agarwal's son, Sanjay Agarwal, said, "People love Naveen Patnaik and there is no challenge to the BJD candidate. My mother, Sabitri Agarwal, will surely win the seat."
Rejecting Bahinipati's allegation, Mohapatra said, "There is no connection between BJD's support to BJP's Rajya Sabha nominee and Patkura assembly polls. It is a battle for 'swabhiman' (prestige) in Patkura."