BACK IN THE FIGHT

Following failed alliance talks, the BJD strategically selects candidates to challenge BJP's nominees, marking the onset of an electoral showdown

- Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

On March 27, Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik announced the first list of the party’s candidates for the simultaneous four-phase polls, starting May 13. For the state’s 147 assembly constituencies, 72 names were made public, confirming that Patnaik will re-contest from Hinjili for a sixth term. And for the 21 Lok Sabha seats, 15 names were put out. The party inducted 13 new faces for the state poll and renominated four of its parliamentary candidates. Among the new names in the Lok Sabha list is general secretary (organisation) Pranab Prakash Das who will take on Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, currently a Rajya Sabha member, in Sambalpur.

These were not easy calls and were taken after serious deliberations, sources say. Patnaik has been actively engaging with his party’s public representatives to gauge the mood of the electorate. The need for such meetings became evident to the 77-year-old leader following the breakdown of alliance talks with the BJP, which endured a strenuous tug-of-war lasting over two weeks.

The efforts to forge a front—dismissed by critics as an untenable idea—were initiated after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Patnaik praised each other in public. Modi even called Patnaik his