minestar Anubhav to lock horns with Jay Panda in Kendrapara

Surjit Kumar Dhal,Bhubaneswar, Mar 28: Ruling BJD Wednesday announced candidates for nine more Lok Sabha seats while denying renomination to six of its sitting MPs.

The MPs who have been renominated were: Pinaki Mishra (Puri) and Rabinda Kumar Jena (Balasore).

The sitting BJD MPs who have been denied tickets are: Prasanna Patsani (Bhubaneswar), Nagendra Pradhan (Sambalpur), Kulamani Samal (Jagatsinghpur), Ramchandra Hansda (Mayurbhanj), Arjun Sethi (Bhadrak) and Rita Tarai (Jajpur).

Ending all speculations, BJD president Naveen Patnaik named Odia film star and Rajya Sabha MP Anubhav Mohanty as the party candidate for Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat where BJP has fieled four-time MP Baijayant Panda.

Panda was elected to Lok Sabha from Kendrapara Parliamentary seat on BJD ticket in 2014, but resigned from the party and the Lok Sabha membership last year following difference of opinion with the Chief Minister.

The BJD has fielded retired IPS officer and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik in place of five-time MP Prasanna Patsani in Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat.

The top cop will face bureaucrat-turned politician and BJP nominee Aparajita Sarangi in his madien poll battle.

The BJD Chief rewarded former works secretary Nalini Kanta Pradhan and made him a candidate to fight from Sambalpur Lok Sabha seat. Pradhan replaced sitting MP  Nagendra Pradhan.

The BJD replaced eight-time MP and former Union Minister Arjun Sethi and fielded Manjulata Mandal, a woman and a new face in Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat.

Similarly, Sarmistha Sethi replaced sitting MP Rita Tarai in Jajpur Lok Sabha seat while sitting MLA Dr Rajashree Mallick has been named as the BJD candidate to contest from JKagatisnghpur Lok Sabha seat.

 The ruling party also fielded Dr Debasish Marandi in Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat while denying renomination to sitting MP Ramchandra Hansda.

            Patnaik announced candidates for nine Lok Sabha seats which will go to polls in third and fourth phase on April 23 and April 29 respectively. Of the nine candidates names announced on Wednesday, three are women.

However, the ruling party is yet to announce its candidates for three other Parilamentary seats like Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Keonjhar.

Earlier, the regional party had announced candidates for nine other Lok Sabha seats.

They were: Kalahandi (Pushpendra Singhdeo), Koraput (Kausalya Hikaka), Nabarangpur (Ramesh Chandra Majhi), Berhampur (Chandra Sekhar Sahu), Aska

(Pramila Bisoi), Sundergarh (Sunita Biswal), Bolangir (Kalikesh Singhdeo), Bargarh (Prasanna Acharya) and Kandhamal (Achyut Samant).

            Polling is scheduled to be held for 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats in the state in four phases beginning April 11.