No one stole the party, says Ajit Pawar in veiled retort to Sharad Pawar

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

NCP chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday took an indirect jab at his estranged uncle and NCP-SP President Sharad Pawar, saying that no one had stolen the party as 80 per cent of party MLAs and workers are with him.

Baramati (Maharashtra), April 16: NCP chief and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday took an indirect jab at his estranged uncle and NCP-SP President Sharad Pawar, saying that no one had stolen the party as 80 per cent of party MLAs and workers are with him.

Addressing a poll rally for his wife and Baramati Lok Sabha seat candidate Sunetra Pawar, he said: "I took a different stance. I am not alone but Praful Patel, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Munde, Dilip Walse Patil and more than 80 per cent of MLAs took this stand. The reason for this is to solve the problems of the people and also for the development cause."

"Neither (Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief) Eknath Shinde nor Ajit Pawar stole the party. Today 80 per cent of the people are with both of us. Therefore, the Election Commission gave party symbols and names. Some people make the issue emotional, saying they stole the party. Are we thieves? Are we dacoits? We are not thieves or dacoits but we are those who work for the development," Ajit Pawar said, exhorting party workers not to get carried away by emotional appeals.

He also criticised his estranged cousin and NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule, alleging that in these last 12 years, no funds have come from the Centre for the Baramati constituency.

Meanwhile, state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare, who is the party nominee from Raigad seat against Shiv Sena-UBT's Anant Geete, said that the MahaYuti government is working in a more dynamic manner to strengthen the hands of the leadership at the national level that has crafted the Vision 2047.

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"(PM) Narendra Modi is working to bring the country on par with the developed nations in the next five years. A stable government is required. The stable government was formed under the leadership of Narendra Modi in 2014 after Manmohan Singh's UPA government. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have placed different constituent parties in it," he said.

(IANS)

BJP Leader Sambit Patra Files Nomination For Puri Lok Sabha Seat

by Hemanta Pande

Puri, April 29: Many senior leaders of various political parties in Odisha on Monday filed their nomination papers for the upcoming simultaneous Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections.

Among the heavyweights from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party spokesperson and its candidate for Puri Lok Sabha constituency, Sambit Patra, filed nomination papers at the district collector's office on Monday.

BJP's nominee for Pipili Assembly seat, Ashrit Patnaik, also filed the nomination papers at the deputy collector's office.

Patra along with Patnaik, embarked on a mammoth rally from Uttara on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar to Puri before filing the nomination papers on Monday. Hundreds of party workers took part in the BJP rally from Pipili to Puri.

Sambit Patra had lost the Puri Lok Sabha seat after a close fight with the Biju Janata Dal's candidate and lawyer Pinaki Misra in the 2019 general election.

BJD has fielded former Mumbai police commissioner and ex-IPS officer, Arup Patnaik against Patra in Puri Lok Sabha constituency this time.

Meanwhile, Congress has nominated Sucharita Mohanty from the Puri Lok Sabha seat.

Similarly, BJD heavyweight Sanjay Das Burma, the party's candidate for the Satyabadi Assembly seat, reached Puri by taking out a huge rally along with party workers and filed his nomination papers on Monday.

Filing of nominations commenced in the state on Monday for the third phase of the Odisha leg of polling on May 25.

Polling will be held in six Lok Sabha constituencies -- Puri, Dhenkanal, Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Keonjhar -- of the state on May 25.

On the other hand, several other leaders, including former Union Minister Dilip Ray, filed the nominations in their respective constituencies.

Ray has been fielded by the BJP from Rourkela Assembly seat.

Assembly and Lok Sabha elections will be held simultaneously in Odisha in four phases from May 13 to June 1. The results will be out on June 4. (IANS)

Congress Eyes Revival In South Odisha; Rahul, Revanth To Hit Campaign Trail On May 3

by Hemanta Pande

Bhubaneswar, April 29: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth and Reddy will hold an election rally in Odisha’s Rayagada district on May 3, Friday, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) said on Monday.

Bordering Andhra Pradesh, Rayagada which comes under Koraput Lok Sabha constituency, has socio-cultural affinities with the undivided Andhra Pradesh as it has got a sizable number of Telugu-speaking population.

Apart from the party's Koraput, Behrampur and Nabarangpur Lok Sabha candidates, thousands of Congress workers and leaders from Rayagada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Gajapati districts will join the rally, sources informed.

Congress which ruled Odisha for more than four decades, is now the third major force in Odisha politics after the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main opposition party. Its vote share in the state dipped to 16 per cent in 2019. Of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state, it could win only one seat — Koraput — in 2019. In South Odisha, the party could win only two assembly seats – Jeypore in Koraput district and Mohana in Gajapati district. Though the grand old party won only nine of the 147 assembly seats in the state with a vote share of only 16 per cent, its vote share in South Odisha stood at 25 per cent.

“We will win at least 40 seats in south and western Odisha districts this time. People of Odisha are now frustrated with the BJD government which is very much hand-in-glove with the BJP. Both the parties are systematically exploiting the people of Odisha,” said OPCC campaign committee chairperson Bhakta Charan Das.

Das informed that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also carry out a massive election campaign in South Odisha.

“Priyanka Gandhi will address an election rally in Nabarangpur on May 10. The OPCC is in the process of finalizing Mallikarjun Kharge’s campaign,” said the OPCC campaign committee chairperson.

Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a poll rally at Salipur in Cuttack district, had targeted the ruling BJD saying it had looted the state’s mineral resources, pushed the state into poverty and left the youths in a state hopelessness sans suitable job opportunities for them.

Read More: Odisha News

BJD Infighting Intensifies Ahead Of 2024 General Elections

by Hemanta Pande

Bhubaneswar, Apr 29: The intra-party wrangling in the Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal (BJD) appears to have intensified across Odisha ahead of the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and State Assembly.

Just as elections are coming closer, disgruntled leaders from BJD and their supporters are taking to the streets. From Kanabanji to Nimapara, from Deogarh to Kabisuryanagar furious protests were held in many assembly segments after the sitting MLAs or aspiring candidates were denied party tickets to contest the ensuing polls.

The frustration over ticket allocation led party members to stage protests and in some cases submit resignation letters to the party president, political observers believed.

According to sources, the severe infighting among BJD leaders came to fore in Kantabanji Assembly segment, from where BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will contest this time apart from his usual seat of Hinjili.

Tension gripped in Kantabanji BJD unit after some supporters of party leader Giriraj Singh Majhi, who was hopeful for a party ticket from Kantabanji, clashed with a section of BJD workers during the ruling party's "Misrana Parba" (joining ceremony) and workers' meet in front of the Banamali palace in the western Odisha town yesterday, in the presence of senior BJD leader and Minister Niranjan Pujari.

For the first time in the last 24-years, say political analysts, the BJD supremo is facing serious internal resistance to his candidature for the Assembly elections.

Similarly, thousands of supporters of sitting MLA and former Minister Samir Ranjan Dash took out a massive rally recently, demanding reconsideration of his candidacy for Nimapara seat in Puri district.

Dash and his supporters are conducting a series of meetings over the alternate course of action if the ruling party would not reconsider his candidature for Nimapara segment, sources said.

Similar reports of alleged infighting among multiple ticket aspirants of BJD surfaced in Deogarh under Sambalpur Parliamentary constituency, Kabisuryanagar of Ganjam district and several other assembly segments across the State.

Several senior leaders including sitting MPs and MLAs resigned from the primary membership of the ruling party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the last two months.

Despite the top BJD leaders pledging to contest the elections unitedly under the leadership of CM Naveen Patnaik, recent developments suggest that dissent and dissatisfaction may cost heavily to the ruling party in both Assembly and Lok sabha Polls.

No one stole the party, says Ajit Pawar in veiled retort to Sharad Pawar

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