Bhubaneswar: BJD candidate for the Patkura Assembly constituency Bed Prakash Agarwalla died here on Saturday following a prolonged illness. Now, as per the guidelines, elections to the Patkura Assembly constituency will be countermanded. But polls for Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat will be held as usual.
The Election Commission of India will notify the fresh schedule.
A sitting MLA, 83-year-old Agarwalla was undergoing treatment in a private hospital here for last few months.
Agarwalla, a six-time MLA, twice from Patkura and four-time from Kendrapara constituency- had served in the Ministry of Nilamani Routray, Biju Patnaik and Naveen Patnaik’s Governments.
He started his political career as councillor from Kendrapara Municipality and then went on to become the Chairman of the Kendrapara Municipality. A close confidante of Biju Patnaik, Agarwalla had later joined the BJP in late 1990s.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram and BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda condoled the death of the veteran leader.
“Bed Prakash Agarwalla was a close associate of Biju Babu. His death is a great loss for all of us. I convey my deep sympathy to the bereaved family,” tweeted CM Patnaik.
This time, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik had refrained from changing the sitting MLA Agarwalla for the fear of dissidence among the party’s rank and file in their constituencies.
