New Delhi [India], March 25 (ANI): BJP leader Aparajita Sarangi who has been named the party's candidate from Odisha's Bhubaneswar constituency for the Lok Sabha elections, thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah and Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal.
Speaking to ANI, Aparajita said, "I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and Odisha BJP president Manmohan Samal to put faith in me. They think that whatever I have done in the last five years has gone down well with the public and hence they have renominated me."
The BJP leader also dedicated the ticket she received to the people of the constituency.
Exuding confidence that the BJP will win more than 15 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, Aparajita said, "This ticket is not for me but for all the people of the constituency. I can say with all confidence that the way things are going we will be winning more than 15 out of 21 Lok Sabha seats and at the same time, we will form the government in Odisha as well and there will be a double-engine government here."
The BJP announced the names of its candidates for 18 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha while dropping four sitting MPs from the list. The nominees for Cuttack, Jajpur and Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituencies are yet to be named by the party.
The party has fielded Dharmendra Pradhan from the Sambalpur seat, and Baijayant Jay Panda has been fielded from Kendrapara. Similarly, the party has fielded Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar, Jual Oram from Sundargarh, Sambit Patra from Puri, and Pratap Sarangi from Balasore.
The BJP, which earlier announced going solo in Odisha, named Pradeep Purohit from Bargarh, Anant Nayak from Keonjhar, Naba Charan Majhi from Mayurbhanj, Avimanyu Sethi from Bhadrak, Rudra Narayan Pani from Dhenkanal, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo from Bolangir, Malvika Keshari Deo from Kalahandi, Balabhadra Majhi from Nabarangpur, Bibhu Prasad Tarai from Jagatsinghpur, Anita Subhadarshini from Aska, Pradeep Panigrahy from Berhampur and Kaleram Majhi from Koraput.
The parliamentary elections for the 543 constituencies will be conducted in seven phases, commencing on April 19 and will conclude on June 1. Vote counting is scheduled for June 4. (ANI)
