BJD Appoints 5 Senior Leaders As Lok Sabha Coordinators In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Sunday appointed five senior leaders as Lok Sabha coordinators, including three Rajya Sabha members. The parliamentary constituency coordinators are Chandrasekhar Sahu for Berhampur, Debashish Samantaray for Bhadrak, Pratap Jena for Kendrapada, Sujit Kumar for Kalahandi, and Subash Khuntia for Puri.

Party President & CM Shri @Naveen_Odisha has appointed Shri Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Shri Debashish Samantray, Shri Pratap Jena, Shri Sujit Kumar and Shri Subhasish Khuntia as Coordinators of different Parliamentary Constituencies with immediate effect. #BJDWithOdisha pic.twitter.com/VodXdurO6M

— Biju Janata Dal (@bjd_odisha) April 7, 2024

Among them, Sujit Kumar has been a Rajya Sabha MP for Odisha since 2000, while Khuntia and Samantaray recently joined the Upper House. Pratap Jena, a two-time MLA from Mahanga Assembly seat under Kendrapada Lok Sabha constituency, has been nominated, with his son Ankit Pratap Jena contesting from Mahanga.

Former Congress MLA Anshuman Mohanty is the MP candidate from Kendrapada, competing against two-time MP and BJP candidate Baijayant Jay Panda, who lost the seat in 2019 to BJD’s Anubhav Mohanty.

In other constituencies, Manjulata Mandal has been renominated from Bhadrak, Malvika Keshari Deo has replaced sitting MP Basanta Panda from Kalahandi, and Arup Patnaik has been fielded from Puri. Arup, who joined BJD in April 2018, will face BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra.

Chandrasekhar Sahu, the sitting Berhampur MP, has been replaced with new entrant from BJP, Bhrugu Baxipatra, who will contest against BJP’s Pradeep Panigrahi. Baxipatra, a close aide of CM Naveen Patnaik, was expelled from BJD in 2020 and joined the BJP in February.