Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Pratap Sarangi and Odia film stars will campaign for BJD and BJP candidates for the Patkura Assembly election which will be held on July 20.
Polls in Patkura assembly segment in Kendrapara district have been deferred twice - first due to the death of BJD candidate and then in the wake of cyclone Fani.
The saffron party has fielded for the Patkura seat veteran leader Bijay Mohapatra, a well-known bete noire of the chief minister. He would be taking on BJD's Sabitri Agarwal and Congress nominee Jayant Mohanty.
Sabitri is the widow of former minister and sitting MLA Bed Prakash Agarwal, whose death led to postponement of elections in Patkura the first time.
Patnaik's name was among the 40 star campaigners list of the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) submitted at the Chief Electoral Officer's office here.
Patnaik's rivalry with Mohapatra dates back to two decades when the BJD president denied him a party ticket in 2000. Since then, Patnaik has ensured that Mohapatra lost polls in 2004, 2009 and 2014.
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The BJD had already engaged seven senior ministers, 22 MLAs, one MP and four Odia film stars to campaign for Sabitri Agarwal.
"The Chief Minister is likely to visit Patkura on July 17 and participate in a road show apart from addressing some roadside meetings," said Labour Minister Sushant Singh, who is among the seven ministers looking after campaigning in Patkura.
Ollywood faces - Arindam Roy, Kuna Tripathy and Akash Das Nayak - are also in the BJD list of star campaigners for the Patkura Assembly poll.
Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Pratap Sarangi, former Union minister and BJP Jual Oram are among the 40 star campaigners who will campaign for the saffron party.
Ollywood stars like Sritam Das, Anu Choudhury, Harihar Mohapatra and Pinky Pradhan will also campaign for BJP candidate Bijay Mohapatra.
The Congress has also asked its nine MLAs to campaign for its Patkura candidate Jayant Mohanty.
In the recently held Odisha Assembly election the BJD won 111 seats in the 147-member House while the BJP bagged 23 and Congress nine.