Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: BJD workers today took out a rally in support of their candidate, Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh, the widow of Hemendra Chandra Singh, with placards bearing pictures of the late MP.

The seat fell vacant following the death of her husband on September 5.

Pratyusha is the first candidate to file papers for the by-poll. The Congress and the BJP have also declared their candidates but they are yet to file their papers. Tomorrow is the last day for filing nominating papers.

A big procession followed Pratyusha to the Phulbani collectorate, where she went to file her papers. Several senior ministers, including finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat, forest minister Bikram Keshari Arukh and agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy, accompanied her. Younger ministers such as Arun Sahoo, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Puspendra Singhdeo were also present.

Carrying placards, party flags and banners, the party workers shouted slogans in the name of Hemendra Chandra Singh.

Though chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik was not present, he ensured that Pratyusha made the right impact while filing her papers. Former minister and party spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb has been appointed as the party’s coordinator for the by-poll.

After filing papers, she said: “I will work hard to fulfil the dreams of my late husband.”

Hemendra Chandra Singh, a scion of Nayagarh royal family, had won the seat in the May elections defeating Congress candidate Harihar Karan by a margin of around 1.8 lakh votes. Singh had crossed over from the Congress to the BJD just on the eve of the polls.

The BJP and the Congress are also trying hard to make an impact. The BJP has fielded former MP Rudra Madhab Ray, who had won the Kandhamal seat in the 2009 elections. He will file his papers tomorrow.

In order to counter the likely sympathy wave in favour of the BJD candidate, the BJP is planning to highlight the failures and misdeeds of Naveen Patnaik government with special focus on deposit collection scam, land scam and other scandals.

The BJP is keen on making corruption its campaign issue in Kandhamal. The Congress, which has fielded former Phulbani MLA and a Dalit leader Abhimanyu Behera, is also likely to target the ruling party on scams.