Congress list ready, top leaders may lose out

Expressbuzz.com, 24th March, 2009

BHUBANESWAR: After days of wrangling, the Congress finalised its list of candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats but the rift among senior leaders only widened. The lists are likely to be announced tomorrow.
State unit president KP Singhdeo returned here today after finalisation of the lists. Sources said differences cropped up at the meeting of the screening committee in New Delhi as Singhdeo and the AICC general secretary incharge of Orissa Ghulam Nabi Azad had separate lists.
The bone of contention was whether some high profile aspirants, who did not conform to the guidelines, should be nominated for the Lok Sabha or not. Sources said OPCC working president Bhakta Charan Das was interested in the Lok Sabha polls from Kalahandi constituency.
However, the guideline for selection has come in his way. Das had lost the last three Lok Sabha polls to Bikram Keshari Deo of BJP. Sources said Das is still hopeful of getting the ticket. The former Union minister met party president Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the situation in Kalahandi. The BJP had already nominated Deo, who is seeking fourth term as MP.
Sources maintained that Das is still the best bet for Congress from Kalahandi. As a compromise formula, Das is being offered Narla Assembly seat. Former MP Rahas Bihari Behera is likely to be the candidate for the Lok Sabha seat if Das does not get the green signal.
Campaign committee chairman Srikant Jena is also reported to have been denied a Lok Sabha ticket. Jena was lobbying hard for Balasore seat after former minister Niranjan Patnaik declined to contest from there.
There is also discontent over the Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency. Sources said that former minister Amar Pradhan has been given the ticket overlooking former PCC president Sarat Patnaik. The BJD and BJP are yet to finalise candidates for this seat.
Uncertainty prevails over the candidatures from the prestigious Bhubaneswar and Cuttack seats. Sources said former IPS officer Bata Krushna Tripathy has been given ticket ignoring the claims of several senior party leaders. As the selection process was kept a closely guarded secret, it is not yet clear who got the nod for the Cuttack seat.
But those whose names are reported to have been finalised are Giridhar Gamang (Koraput), Narasingh Mishra (Balangir), Chandrasekhar Sahu (Berhampur), Pradip Majhi (Nabarangpur), Hemananda Biswal (Sundargarh), Ranjib Biswal (Kendrapara) and Pinaki Mishra (Puri).