Janaki Ballav Patnaik’s son turns down Congress offer to contest polls

BHUBANESWAR: Plagued by discontent over the distribution of tickets, the Congress was left red-faced on Wednesday when two of its nominees backed out hours after their names were announced as candidates while a third resigned from the party itself for not getting the desired seat. Former chief minister and Congress stalwart Janaki Ballav Patnaik’s son Pruthvi, who last month had evinced interest to make his electoral debut, changed his mind and declined to contest from Begunia. He was joined by senior Congress leader Yudhistir Samantaray, who was on Wednesday nominated to take on BJD’s Pradeep Maharathy from Pipili assembly constituency. Bibhu Prasad Tarai, who was named for Tirtol assembly seat, resigned from the party as he was unhappy with ticket distribution.

Earlier, Muktikant Biswal, who was named for the Rourkela assembly seat, had refused to contest. Biswal had hogged headlines after he embarked on a foot march from Rourkela to New Delhi in April last year to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his promise of upgrading Ispat General Hospital (IGH) into a superspecialty hospital and medical college.

The 42-year-old Pruthvi said he found the Congress a divided house in Begunia and decided to opt out of the race. “I had organised some meetings at Begunia a few days ago. But I found lack of unity among local leaders and workers of Congress. Since workers in Begunia are not united, it would have impacted my fight,” Pruthvi said. Begunia assembly constituency was twice represented by his father in 1995 and 2004.

While Congress state president Niranjan Patnaik is yet to take a decision on Yudhistir, the party has managed to find Pruthvi’s substitute. “We have nominated Pradeep Sahoo in place of Pruthvi at Begunia,” Niranjan said. The Congress on Wednesday announced the names of candidates for three Lok Sabha and 15 assembly seats.

Former Pipili MLA Yudhistir, meanwhile, slammed Niranjan for announcing his candidature late. “My name should have been announced earlier. I don’t have enough time to meet my constituents. Congress state president wanted to field another candidate and sought money from him. Many candidates were asked to pay Rs 5 crore to get tickets,” Yudhistir alleged.

Bibhu, who was named as an assembly candidate from Tirtol, wanted to contest from Jagatsinghpur Lok Sabha constituency. He resigned alleging nexus between the Congress and the BJD over distribution of tickets. He also made an indirect dig at Congress nominee for Paradeep assembly seat Arindam Sarkhel, aka Bapi, who was arrested in November 2016 in connection with the murder of a stevedoring firm's executive. Industrialist Mahimananda Mishra was also arrested for allegedly masterminding the murder.

The Congress has replaced MLA candidates at Sambalpur and Cuttack Sadar. Aswini Pujahari, former director of Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), replaced Aswini Guru at Sambalpur while Ratnakar Behera, who was earlier named candidate for Cuttack Sadar assembly seat, has been replaced by Abhishek Mahananda. The Congress has also announced the candidature of former finance minister Panchanan Kanungo for Cuttack Lok Sabha seat. Kanungo will take on BJP's Prakash Mishra (former Odisha DGP) and BJD heavyweight Bhartruhari Mahatab (outgoing MP).