BHUBANESWAR, January 22: The Janata Dal State election committee has rejected the proposal floated by some party leaders for a seat understanding with the Biju Janata Dal.The election committee which also met on Wednesday finalised candidates for several seats. However, the Jalandhar formula was rejected as some party MLAs threatened to resign if the Janata Dal entered into any kind of adjustments with the BJD.
Sources said that this chapter was now closed as both Nalinikanta Mahanty and Prafulla Chandra Ghadei who were rooting for this idea attended the meetings of the State election committee held during the last three days. Names of candidates for several seats including Cuttack and Kendrapara were yet to be finalised.
Sources, however, revealed that former minister Kalindi Charan Behera has emerged as the front runner for the Cuttack seat ticket. Candidates for Balasore, Bhadrak, Mayurbhanj and Dhenkanal were also yet to be finalised. Talks with the JMM (Sibu Soren) is still on for the Balasore andSundergarh seats.
Sources said that JD MLA Arjun Charan Sethi is being projected for the Bhadrak Lok Sabha seat. Sethi is a former Dal MP from Bhadrak. The candidate for the Mayurbhanj seat will be announced at the workers' conference scheduled on January 23 next. Former minister Chaitanya Prasad Majhi is said to be an aspirant for Dal ticket from the Mayurbhanj seat.
Former MP Shivaji Patnaik has been finalised as the CPM candidate from Bhubaneswar constituency. Former MLA Nityanand Pradhan will be the CPI candidate from Aska constituency.
Sources said that Berhampur and Jagatsinghpur seats will also go to the Left parties. Ali Patnaik is being projected as the CPM candidate from Berhampur. The CPI candidate from Jagatsinghpur is not yet final.
Candidates finalised for other seats are: Kartik Khemundi (Koraput), Bhagwan Majhi (Nowrangpur), Durjyodhan Majhi (Kalahandi), Lecturer Bullion (Phulbani), Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha (Sambalpur) and Rabi Pani (Deogarh).
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
