Odisha Bypoll Battle: BJP to Field Two CMs in Nuapada on Thursday to Add Firepower to Campaign

Nuapada: In a bid to intensify its campaign for the Nuapada Assembly bypoll, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced that two Chief Ministers Odisha’s Mohan Charan Majhi and Chhattisgarh’s Vishnu Deo Sai will campaign in the constituency on Thursday for party candidate Jay Dholakia.

According to the BJP’s schedule, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai will address a public rally at Panchampur under Nuapada block at 11 a.m. The Odisha Chief Minister will lead a roadshow from Udyanbandh to Komna in the afternoon and later address a public meeting there.

The BJP’s high-voltage campaign push comes a day after Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and five-time former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a massive rally in Komna, aimed at energizing the party’s grassroots cadre and reinforcing its outreach in the constituency.

Naveen Patnaik is slated to address another rally in Nuapada on Friday. Not to be outdone, the BJP has planned a second round of Chief Minister Majhi’s meetings in the constituency on the same day.

Meanwhile, the Congress is also stepping up its efforts. The party is in talks to bring in Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Friday to campaign for its candidate, Ghasiram Majhi, who finished second in the 2024 elections behind BJD’s Rajendra Dholakia, who had secured a little over 62,000 votes.

Adding further political heat to the bypoll battleground, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is expected to campaign at Ramakant Hati in Nuapada on November 9.