Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik has announced that Rita Sahu will be the party’s candidate for Bijepur by-election.
Speaking to reporters at Naveen Niwas, Naveen announced Rita’s candidature.
She is the former MLA of Bijepur. She won the seat after her husband Subala Sahu’s untimely death in 2017.
The Bijepur seat fell vacant after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik choose to retain the Hinjili seat. He had contested and won from both the Bijepur and Hinjili constituencies in the recent concluded Assembly elections in Odisha.
Naveen had won from the Bijepur seat with a margin of more than 57 thousand votes. Back in 2018, Rita Sahu had won the by-poll with a margin of more than 41 thousand votes.
The by-poll is scheduled to be held on October 21st.
With the announcement of Rita Sahu as the candidate for Bijepur, it is certain that the BJD will again retain the seat without much difficulty.
While announcing her name, the Chief Minister said that Bijepur has been in the focus for his government. The development of Bijepur is of top most priority for him.
Earlier in May this year, Naveen had announced a special package for Bijepur Development that included Pucca houses for 34 thousand families, two mega pipe water supply schemes at an estimated cost of Rs 1,120 crore covering around 8 lakh population of Bargarh District and piped water to Bijepur.
The Chief Minister had also announced that the package will include urban infrastructure, irrigation projects and infrastructure development works in all the Blocks and NACs of Bargarh District.
The Chief Minister said, “I am indebted to the people of Bejipur for the blessings they showered on me .Bejipur would continue to be a focus constituency for me. In the bye election Smt Rita Sahu will be the BJD candidate for Bejipur Assembly constituency”.