Bhubaneswar, March 29 -- There are two broad takeaways from the BJD's first list of candidates for 15 Lok Sabha and 72 Assembly seats released on Wednesday. One: the selection of candidates in five to six Lok Sabha seats appears to have been guided by a desire to make it easy for the BJP to win. Two: the party has abandoned its alleged plan to field newcomers in a number of assembly constituencies and played it safe to make sure it returns to power for the sixth straight time.

Take Dhenkanal Lok Sabha seat as a test case. When BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik announced the name of Abinash Samal as the party candidate for the seat, even seasoned journalists - who usually have the state on their fingertips - were left scratching their heads and ...