BK Hariprasad and (below) Srikant Jena

Bhubaneswar, March 9: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) today sounded the election bugle from Keonjhar district, barely 24 hours after releasing its first list of Lok Sabha candidates.

The party urged people to vote for its candidates and oust the “corrupt” Naveen Patnaik government. The meeting was organised at Chennapadi Chhak under Anandpur Assembly constituency, the home turf of OPCC president Jaydev Jena.

The campaign in Anandpur coincided with a senior member of the OPCC Arya Gyanendra formally resigning from Congress and joining the Trinamul Congress after meeting its chief Mamata Banerjee in Calcutta.

He has been appointed as the convenor of the Trinamul in the state with the party declaring its intention to contest five Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly seats. Yesterday, Opposition leader Bhupinder Singh had ditched the Congress and joined the BJD.

AICC in-charge of Odisha B.K. Hariprasad, who attended the election meeting in Anandpur, termed the deserters as “migratory birds”. “Those who are leaving the party are opportunists and the party will not be affected by it,” he said.

The senior leader also questioned so-called moral politics of the Naveen Patnaik government. Hariprasad accused the Naveen Patnaik government of hijacking all the central government-funded schemes. OPCC campaign committee chairman and Union minister Srikant Jena said there was a growing public anger against the government and Congress workers should cash on it.

While the Congress is struggling to put its act together, the BJD is yet to finalise the names of the candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies. Hundreds of party workers, including current MLAs and MPs, today met the party supremo at Naveen Niwas and sought his blessings.

The president of BJD’s women’s wing, Pramila Mallick, said: “There are many aspirants in every constituency. It will take some time to finalise names of the candidates. However, the final decision will be taken by the party president.”

Sources said the party was now scrutinising the bio-data of each candidate and their antecedents. “Loyalty to the leadership and work for the party will be two major criteria while finalising names for each Assembly constituency,” said a senior BJD leader.

A number of aspirants who have worked for the party for more than a decade, are also trying hard to get party tickets. “The party should look into the demands of its own cadres rather than appeasing those who have suddenly joined the party and want tickets. We are hopeful that Naveen Patnaik will look into this issue,” said a senior BJD youth leader.

On the other hand, with the announcement of its candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats, the chances of the BJP sharing seats with smaller outfits now look remote. A BJP candidate, sitting MLA from Khariar Hitesh Bagarti, today said he would not contest in the general election but would work for the party. Sources said he was annoyed with the party leadership as he was denied a Lok Sabha ticket.