Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, Mar 31:

The Baleswar Lok Sabha seat is all set to witness star campaigners of all the political parties. While Trinamool Congress (TMC), seeking to defeat union minister and Congress campaign committee chief Srikant Jena, has decided to requisition the services of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Mithun Chakraborty to canvass for votes in the constituency, BJP hopes to get the party's star campaigner Narendra Modi to lend his considerable weight behind BJP candidate Pratap Sarangi.

mamata

Mamata is likely to address a rally in the district during the first week of April. The dates of campaign of the chief minister and mega star will be finalized soon, said TMC state convener Arya Kumar Jnanendra.

The party has fielded former Congress MP Kartikeswar Patra from the Lok Sabha seat while it has also nominated candidates in all seven Assembly seats in order to give a tough fight to other parties in these constituencies.

It is to be noted that Ama Odisha withdrew its candidate Kharavela Swain, a former MP from the Lok Sabha seat, in support of TMC.

The politically important constituency will also witness campaigning by Narendra Modi in the coming days as BJP believes that it has greater winning chance from the seat. Nilagiri MLA Pratap Sarangi is contesting from Baleswar seat on a BJP ticket.

“We have planned to hold a rally of our prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the seat in the coming days. The date for the Modi visit will be finalised after the first phase elections, the date will be finalized,” said a BJP leader.