Bhubaneswar, Mar 26 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will field Sanat Kumar Gadtia against Odisha Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik in the Bijepur seat in the upcoming Assembly polls.
The Central Election Committee of the BJP on Monday night announced the name of veteran politician Gadtia for the seat.
Gadtia, who had deserted the BJP for Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in 2008, returned to the party ahead of the Bijepur by-poll in February 2018.
BJP has fielded its state Vice President Pitambar Acharya to contest against Patnaik in the Hinjili Assembly seat.
For the first time, Patnaik will contest from two Assembly seats -- Bijepur and Hinjili.
The Congress has replaced Ram Krishna Panda with Shambhunath Panigrahi in Hinjili.
Odisha, which will witness Lok Sabha and Assembly polls simultaneously in four phases, has 147 Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats.