BJP fields Sanat Gadtia against Naveen in Bijepur

Bhubaneswar: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today announced the candidature of Sanat Kumar Gadtia as its nominee for Bijepur assembly seat for the ensuing election.

The Central Election Committee of the BJP decided to field Gadtia against Biju Janta Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik.

The saffron party released the fourth list of candidates for the assembly polls in the state.

Gadtia, a former BJD veteran, had deserted the party days ahead of Bijepur by-poll last year. He along with his supporters joined the BJP in the presence of Dharmendra Pradhan. Earlier in 2008, Gadtia had quit BJP to join BJD. However, he again jumped ship after 11 years.

For the first time, Naveen will be contesting from two assembly segments. Apart from Hinjili, Naveen has filed nomination papers for Bijepur seat too. Naveen along with his supporters today filed his nomination at Padampur sub collector’s office.

The CEC also announced list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls. It announced the names of four candidates from Assam, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Rupak Sharma or Nowgong (Assam), Ashwat Narain for Bangalore Rural (Karnataka), Tejaswi Surya LS for Bangalore South (Karnataka) and Rajveer  Singh Balmiki for Hathras (Uttar Pradesh). This is the ninth list of candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections.