Bijepur: The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Thursday announced the names of its 40 star campaigners ahead of the February 24 by-poll to Bijepur Assembly segment.
Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik tops the list. Patnaik will campaign for Rita Sahu at Gaisilet, Barpali and Bijepur blocks in Bargarh district February 19 and 21, party sources said.
Five ministers, six MPs and many film stars of the ruling dispensation are in the list.
The ministers are – Surya Narayan Patro, Pratap Jena, Bikram Keshari Arukh, Ramesh Chandra Majhi and Ashok Chandra Panda.
Senior BJD leaders and MPs who are star campaigners of the ruling party are- Tathagata Satpathy, Ananga Udaya Singh Deo, Kalikesh Singh Deo, Pratap Keshari Deb, Siddhanta Mahapatra and Anubhav Mohanty.
The other prominent BJD leaders who will campaign for Sahu include Akash Das Nayak, Munna Khan, Arindam Roy, Kuna Tripathy, Shrimayee Mishra, Rohit Pujari, Raseswari Panigrahi, Pushpendra Singh Deo, Debashish Nayak, Sameer Das, Umakanta Samantaray, Braja Pradhan, Anubhab Patnaik and Pramila Mallick.
Opposition Congress and BJP are yet to submit their star campaigners’ names to the Election Commission of India so far. BJP plans to bring in union ministers such as Radha Mohan Singh, Smriti Irani, Santosh Gangwar, Ram Kripal Yadav and Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh.
The Congress who plans to rope in Oriya film actors Bijay Mohanty, Aparajita Mohanty among others has also not finalised its list.
Meanwhile, the BJD Wednesday moved the Office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) urging it not to accept the star campaigners’ list of any party if submitted seven days of the notification.
The party also urged the CEO to ensure that if the candidate shares stage or attends public meeting with the star campaigner the expenses be added to candidate’s account.
It also appealed to ensure that the candidate informs the RO about the expenses of hiring of helicopter/air craft and name of the pilot within five days.
Besides, the candidate should also inform the travel plan of air craft to the District Magistrate 24 hours before the scheduled arrival for security purposes, the party urged.
PNN