A campaign rally of BJP in Berhampur town on Saturday. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Bhubaneswar, March 29: Electioneering has picked up in south and west Odisha as the dates of polls are drawing closer.

On the other hand, in the coastal belt, official candidates of major political parties waited with bated breath for withdrawal of candidature by rebels who pose threat for them.

Today was the last date for withdrawal of nominations for second phase of polls to be held on April 17.

Chief minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik today campaigned for the party candidates in Gajapati, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts in south Odisha, which will go to polls on April 10.

Naveen has been on a marathon campaign trail for the last four days. Launching campaign from his home turf Hinjili on Wednesday, he had continued electioneering in Ganjam and Gajapati districts on Thursday and Balangir district yesterday.

On the other hand, veteran Congress leader and former chief minister Giridhar Gamang campaigned in Koraput Lok Sabha constituency and BJP stalwart and former Union minister Jual Oram in Sundargarh.

AICC Odisha affairs in-charge B.K. Hariprasad and senior party leaders were closeted yesterday to finalise the party’s campaign strategy. Star campaigners, such as AICC president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will campaign here for the party in the coming days. Rahul is scheduled to campaign on March 31 in undivided Koraput district, said Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Jaydev Jena.

Rahul had addressed an election meeting at Salepur in Cuttack district on March 9.

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is scheduled to address two election rallies on April 4 in Balangir and Rourkela, from where former party MP Sangeeta Singh Deo, who also happens to be wife of state president K.V. Singh Deo, and party vice-president and former Union minister Jual Oram are contesting. Modi had earlier addressed two meetings in Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur.

Before Modi’s visit, BJP president Rajnath Singh will address four election meetings on April 2. Apart from central leaders such as Modi, Rajnath Singh, Raman Singh and Arjun Munda and senior state leaders, the party has engaged Odia cine stars Sritam Das, Pinky Pradhan, Pintu Nanda and Sunil Kumar for electioneering.

On the other hand, electioneering has not started in full swing in the coastal belt, which will go to polls in the next phase. It is expected to pick up from the next week after the battle lines are drawn clearly. Several rebels have filed nominations, causing headache for the official candidates.

Sitting BJD MLA from Anandpur, Bhagirathi Sethi, who had jumped into the fray as a rebel candidate after being denied party ticket, withdrew nominations today, much to the relief of the party candidate Mayadhar Jena and other leaders.