BJD campaign head and former Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya said that the physical campaign of the chief minister will definitely boost party’s chances in the election.
BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will hit the campaign trail for Padampur bypoll on December 2 where he is expected to address three public meetings besides conducting several road shows in different parts of the constituency seeking votes for the party candidate Barsha Singh Bariha.
The chief minister will address public meetings at Padampur, Paikmal and Jharbandh during the day. Arrangements are in full swing for the meetings and roadshows. As the situation is getting increasingly polarised between the BJD and BJP, several senior leaders of the party had requested the CM to campaign physically for the bypoll.
The rethinking on the part of the chief minister to visit Padampur to campaign for BJD candidate had assumed significance after the party’s Dhamnagar experience in which the BJP trumped the ruling party to retain the seat. As the situation at Padampur has become tough following campaign by three Unions ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan and Narendra Singh Tomar, pressure is mounting on Naveen to visit Padampur.
There is an apprehension in the BJD camp that the party candidate Barsha has failed to create the ‘local feeling’ among the voters which the BJP rival candidate Pradip Purohit is exploiting to the hilt. Several BJD leaders are of the opinion that women and sympathy cards being played by the party may fail to match up with BJP’s aggressive mode of campaigning.
BJD campaign head and former Rajya Sabha member Prasanna Acharya said that the physical campaign of the chief minister will definitely boost party’s chances in the election.The chief minister had addressed virtual rallies for the last five assembly by-elections held since 2019 instead of visiting the constituencies. He had last visited the Bijepur Assembly constituency to campaign for party candidate Rita Sahu in the bypoll held in 2019.
