Pitambar Acharya files nomination from Naveen Patnaik’s bastion

BERHAMPUR

: Senior Orissa high court advocate Pitambar Acharya, who will contest against chief minister Naveen Patnaik from the Hinjili assembly segment, filed his nomination on Wednesday.

Acharya, accompanied by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP leader Damodar Rout, filed his papers before the returning officer at

Chhatrapur

on Tuesday, the final day to file nomination for the second phase of the election to be held on April 18. Hinjli will vote in this phase.

“We have fielded BJP vice-president Pitambar Acharya to take on the chief minister in Hinjili. I hope he will win from the seat, which has been neglected by chief minister Naveen Patnaik during his 19-year rule,” Dharmendra said.

Naveen filed his nomination from Hinjili on March 21. He will contest from the seat for the fifth time in a row.

After filing his papers, Acharya said all sections of the people in Hinjili were neglected by the government.

“Youths of the area have migrated, mainly to Surat, to eke out a livelihood. The chief minister could have made Hinjili a Surat but he did not,” he said.

“When the chief minister came to Hinjili, he was new to it. His only identity was that he was the son of Biju Patnaik, former chief minister,” Acharya said in reply to a question that he was new to the seat.

Acharya will not be the only lawyer to challenge Naveen. Sambhu Nath Panigrahy, another advocate, has also filed his nomination from Hinjili as a Congress candidate.

The party had earlier announced the name of Rama Krushna Panda for Hinjili but changed its decision on Monday and nominated Panigrahy instead.

The BJD’s

Ganjam district

president Pradeep Kumar Panigrahy said the people of Hinjli love the chief minister.

“That is why his victory margin keeps increasing every election. We hope he will win from the seat with a record margin this time,” he said.

Patnaik was elected to the assembly from Hinjili in 2000 with a margin of 29,826 votes. This increased to 42,642 in 2004, 61,773 in 2009 and 76,586 in 2014.