BJP releases first list for Orissa polls

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 31. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today released its first list of candidates for the Orissa Assembly elections. The list contains 35 names, who will be contesting in the first phase of polls. The party is contesting 63 of the 147 Assembly seats.

The names were earlier finalised by the party's Central Election Committee, but was released today after the seat-sharing arrangement with the Biju Janata Dal was firmed up.

The party has also announced its candidates for the three Assembly constituencies in Rajasthan, which are going to the polls.

Mr. Pyarelal Khandelwal, in-charge of Orissa affairs, said the State Government's failure in rendering timely assistance to the cyclone-affected people would be one of the major election issues in Orissa.

Mr. Khandelwal admitted that the BJP and BJD had not yet sorted out the question of projecting the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance. Nor had the proposed joint manifesto been finalised. ``With the main task of seat sharing over, the parties are expected to sort out the remaining issues over the next few days,'' he added.

The BJP will naturally be loathe to project the Biju Janata Dal president, Mr. Naveen Patnaik, as the chief ministerial aspirant. But senior BJP leaders said the BJD had not raised the issue.

However, both the BJP and the BJD have expressed their unhappiness over the seat-sharing arrangement. Under the arrangement, each of the two poll partners will be contesting Assembly seats spread over all the 21 parliamentary constituencies in the State.

Mr. Brundaban Majhi will be the BJP candidate from Laikera (ST) which is the constituency of the Orissa Chief Minister, Mr Hemanand Biswal.

The Sambalpur seat will be contested by Mr. Jayanarayan Mishra, BJP State unit secretary, and Mr. Arabinda Dhali, also State unit secretary, will contest from the Malkangiri (SC) constituency. Of the 10 sitting party MLAs, six have been given tickets and one independent MLA has been given the BJP symbol.

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Section  : National
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