By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, September 27, 2017: Political parties in Odisha have started in mudslinging game keeping the by-poll to Bijepur assembly seat in Bargarh district in mind.

The by-poll has been necessitated following death of Congress MLA Subal Sahu on August 22. A three-time MLA, Subal had won the seat in 2014 by defeating BJD vice president and the then finance minister Prasanna Acharya.

However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to come out with notification for by-poll in the Bijepur assembly seat. But political parties have started indulging in slugfest apparently to demoralise each other.

The Congress on Wednesday predicted that the ruling-Biju Janata Dal (BJD) would cease to exist following the retirement of chief minister and party president Naveen Patnaik in the next two years.

“The BJD is now trying to destablise the Congress by poaching its leaders and cadres. But, I’m sure this regional party will cease to exist in the next two years and all the BJD leaders and cadres will join the Congress,” former Pradesh Congress Committee president (PCC) Niranjan Patnaik said.

Mr Patnaik’s charge came after the BJD vice president Surya Narayan Patro said the Congress in Odisha was all set to lose its existence as all its leaders and members were preparing to his party.

“Congress party no longer enjoys the trust of people of Odisha. It will soon be wiped out as all leaders and cadres are going to join the BJD soon,” Mr Patro said.

Niranjan Patnaik, who is tipped to be the next PCC president, observed that the BJD’s existence was solely dependent on its president Naveen Patnaik.

“In the next 2-3 years, Naveen will retire and one that happens, BJD will cease to exist,” he observed. He did not elaborate what made him foresee the 71-year-old Naveen Patnaik would retire after two years.

Earlier in the day, Mr Patro had claimed that the BJD would undoubtedly win the Bijepur bypoll.

The BJP, however, said both the Congress and BJD had lost trust and confidence of voters in Bijepur and both the parties would lose the by-poll by big margins.

“The BJD in the past has betrayed the people of Bijepur. So has done the Congress. The BJP will field a clean and capable candidate in Bijepur and we will surely win the polls,” said BJP leader Prithwiraj Harichandan.