Page 5 - Bjd

Sonia Gandhi, Ashwini Vaishnaw, 12 others sworn in as RS members: Checklist

Sonia Gandhi took oath as a member of the Upper House from Rajasthan, and Vaishnaw was sworn in as a member of the same house from Odisha

BJD releases list of nominees for 27 assembly and 5 Lok Sabha seats

Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday fielded former BJP leaders Bhrugu Baxipatra and Parineeta Mishra from Berhampur and Baragarh Lok Sabha seats, hours after they joined the regional outfit. BJD chief and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced the names of 27 candidates for assembly elections and five for Lok Sabha polls during the day. With this, the BJD has fielded 20 candidates for the 21 Lok Sabha seats, barring Balasore. The party has so far announced nominees for 99 assembly seats out of 147. Patnaik has denied tickets to seven sitting MLAs and dropped two MPs from the list. They have been replaced by new aspirants. The sitting MLAs who were denied re-nomination are Parsuram Dhada (Soro), Ramesh Chandra Sai (Athamallik), Angad Kanhar (Phulbani), Bijay Shankar Das (Tirtol), Pritam Padhi (Pottangi), Pratap Jena (Mahanga) and Rajkishore Das (Moroda). While Pratap Jena of Mahanga has been replaced by his son Ankit, Morada MLA Rajkishore Das's wife Preetinanda Kan

Highlights: Congress releases list of 17 candidates for Lok Sabha polls, YS Sharmila to contest from Kadapa

General Elections 2024 highlights: Catch all the latest updates on the announcements related to General Elections here

BJP names 112 candidates for Odisha Assembly polls to challenge BJD

The BJP on Tuesday named 112 candidates for the Odisha assembly polls which will held alongside the Lok Sabha elections. The party's state unit president Manmohan Samal will contest from Chandabali while its former chief Suresh Pujari, an MP in the outgoing Lok Sabha, will fight from Brarajarajnagar. The Odisha assembly has 147 seats and the BJP has emerged as the main challenger to the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal. Patnaik has been at the helm of the state since 2000. The BJP and the BJD were in talks for an alliance but the negotiations fell through over seat-sharing arrangement. The BJD and the BJP won 112 and 23 seats respectively in the 2019 polls in the state where the Congress is the third main party.

Senior Odisha Cong leader Behera resigns from party, likely to join BJD

Senior Congress leader and former Odisha minister Ganeswar Behera on Tuesday resigned from the primary membership of the party. Behera, who hails from Kendrapara district, sent his resignation letter to Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak. He, however, thanked the party for giving him an opportunity to serve the people of Odisha as an MLA and Congress worker. Sources said that Behera is likely to join the BJD. The BJD is likely to field Behera from the Kendrapara assembly segment which is reserved for the scheduled caste candidates. In the 2019 polls, Shashi Bhusan Behera of BJD had won the seat by defeating Ganeswar Behera by a margin of 6,320 votes. Ganeswar Behera has said that his well-wishers and voters of his constituency have been urging him to join the BJD. Several Congress leaders former OPCC former working president and ex-MLA Chiranjib Biswal, former minister Surendra Singh Bhoi, sitting MLA Adhiran Panigrahi, ex-MLA K Surya Rao and Ans

3 railway officials violated MCC by attending BJP poll meeting: BJD to EC

The ruling BJD in Odisha has approached the Election Commission, alleging that three railway officials violated the model code of conduct by attending a BJP poll meeting on March 29. A delegation of the BJD led by Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Odisha, in this regard on Sunday. In the memorandum, the party alleged that the three railway officials of Khurda division attended a BJP electoral meeting at Badapokharia village in the district on March 29. This is a gross violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) laid down by the Election Commission for the general elections and the Odisha assembly polls, the BJD said. It also demanded immediate action against the railway officials.

BJP fields BJD turncoat Bhartruhari Mahtab from Cuttack Lok Sabha seat

The BJP on Saturday nominated Bhartruhari Mahtab from the Cuttack Lok Sabha seat from where he was elected on a BJD ticket five years ago but joined the saffron camp this month. The saffron party also fielded Rabindra Narayan Behera, a former director of the National Informatics Centre, from Jajpur, a reserved seat for scheduled caste, while Sukanta Kumar Panigrahi, associated with the Sangh Parivar for a long time, got a BJP ticket for the Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency. We are expecting a very good result in Odisha. A wave of change is seen in the state in favour of the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's good work will be instrumental for the victory of our candidates in the state, Mahtab said after getting the BJP ticket. Mahtab, a six-time MP, had on March 22 resigned from the BJD and joined the BJP on Thursday. Panigrahi has been fielded from Kandhamal after Kharabela Swain, the BJP's candidate in 2019, refused to contest from the same seat. Swain was interested in the ...

BJP names 11 more LS candidates; fields ex-ambassador Sandhu from Amritsar

The BJP on Saturday named its candidates for 11 more Lok Sabha constituencies, fielding a number of leaders who joined it from different parties recently such as Bhartruhari Mahtab, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Sushil Kumar Rinku and Preneet Kaur. All these leaders have been fielded from the seats they represent in the outgoing Lok Sabha, while former Indian ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu will be making his poll debut from Amritsar. Hans Raj Hans, who had won from North West Delhi in 2019 on a BJP ticket, will contest from the Faridkot seat, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs). Veteran parliamentarian Mahtab, who quit the BJD recently, will contest from Cuttack, Bittu from Ludhiana, Kaur from Patiala, and Rinku from Jalandhar, a seat reserved for SCs. Both Bittu, the grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, and Kaur, the wife of former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh, were in the Congress before joining the BJP, while Rinku was in the Aam Aadmi Party. The BJP o

Lok Sabha polls: BJD names 15 candidates, 72 Assembly poll nominees

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday declared the first list of party candidates for the Lok Sabha and Odisha Assembly elections. The BJD president announced the names of nine candidates out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha. Patnaik himself will contest from the Hinjili Assembly segment in Ganjam district. BJD general secretary (Organisation) Pranab Prakash Das will contest from the Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat against Union Minister and BJP candidate Dharmendra Pradhan. Odisha Minister Sudam Marndi will contest from the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat while former Indian Hockey skipper Dilip Tirky will face former Union Minister and sitting MP Jual Oram in the Sundergarh Lok Sabha seat. The other candidates for Lok Sabha seats were: Lambodar Nial (Kalahandi), Ansuman Mohanty (Kendrapara), Prajip Kumar Majhi (Nabarangpur) and Manmath Routray, who joined BJD from Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat. Other Lok Sabha candidates were: Kausalya Hikaka (Koraput), Ranjita Sahu ..

Tale of two crossovers

Many ethical, competent corporate leaders aspire to join public life today. However, the transition to politics is far from easy

Electoral bonds data: Metal, mining giants focus on home ground Odisha

For Vedanta, All India Congress emerged as the second most donated party at Rs 125 crore, followed by BJD at Rs 40 crore

LS polls: BJD announces to go solo in Odisha polls after BJP breaks ties

Earlier in the day, Odisha BJP chief Manmohan Samal categorically stated that his party will be contesting in all the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in the state alone

LS polls highlights: Bihar leader Pappu Yadav joins Congress in Delhi

Lok Sabha elections 2024 updates: Catch all the latest updates on the announcements related to General Elections here

Biju Janata Dal gets the lion's share of non-metro electoral bonds

The BJD received a total of Rs 944.5 crore. This includes Rs 213.5 crore in 2018-19, Rs 50.5 crore in 2019-20, and Rs 67 crore in 2020-21

We will make govt on our own, no alliance with BJD, says Odisha BJP Prez

Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal on Thursday asserted that his party will form the next government in the state "on its own", amid talks of a pre-poll alliance with the BJD. Samal, who along with senior state BJP leaders held a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Wednesday night on the possibility of the alliance, did not make any reference to such a prospect. BJP will form the government in the state alone with the blessings and cooperation of people, he told reporters after returning from the national capital in the morning. Leaders of the BJD were also set to hold a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the afternoon over the issue. Simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the assembly will be held in Odisha.

BJD-BJP alliance possible in Odisha: Saffron party to decide today

The BJP is likely to announce its decision on the possible formation of an alliance with the BJD in Odisha on Wednesday ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in the state, sources said. Top state BJP leaders held a series of meetings in Delhi for the past three days, they said. The BJD is not ready to reveal its cards, while the state BJP leaders - president Manmohan Samal, election in-charge Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and others - have been camping in the national capital. BJP state leaders held a series of meetings at the residence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the sources said. A section of state BJP leaders were against stitching an alliance with the BJD, which dumped the saffron party ahead of the 2009 general elections, months after a riot in Kandhamal the previous year, they said. The issue of alliance between the BJD and BJP came for discussion after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Odisha on March 5. The next day, the BJD held a meeting of its senior ...

Lok Sabha elections: En route to 370 seats, BJP looks for co-travellers

It is tying up with regional parties - big and small - to reach the target the PM has set for the 2024 polls

Highlights of the day: Sweden joins Nato, completes its accession process

Latest news updates: Catch all the latest updates from around the world here

LS polls highlights: Cong's poll body meets to finalise candidates

Lok Sabha elections 2024 latest news updates: Catch all the latest updates from around the world here

LS polls: Two sides of same coin, says Congress on possible BJP-BJD tie-up

The Congress on Thursday said it has always been stating that the BJD and the BJP are two sides of the same coin and whatever opposition the two show to each other in Odisha is merely "shadow boxing". The Congress' assertion comes amid buzz over a tie-up between the BJP and the BJD for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "We've always been saying that the BJD and the BJP are two sides of the same coin. The BJD has always supported the BJP in Parliament and whatever opposition the two show to each other in the state is merely shadow boxing." "The cat appears to be emerging out of the bag!" he said. Although there was no formal announcement regarding a pre-poll alliance between the ruling BJD and the Opposition BJP in Odisha, leaders from both parties have hinted at a mutual tie-up before the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. While BJD leaders held a marathon meeting at Naveen Niwas, the residence of Chief Ministe