Royals campaign for husbands in Balangir

BALANGIR: Bride of Balangir royal family Meghna Rana, who is rarely seen in public, is now campaigning in the scorching heat for her father-in-law and husband.
Accompanying her is mother-in-law Vijaylaxmi Devi, wife of A U Singhdeo, who is contesting on a BJD ticket from Balangir assembly seat. They are campaigning without their husbands in tow.
Meghna, wife Kalikesh Singhdeo, BJD Lok Sabha candidate from Balangir, has picked up Odia.She greets voters with a 'juhar' or 'namaskar'. In the past week, she campaigned in interior pockets of Balangir, Patnagarh, Sonepur and Titlagarh. "It is quite hectic to move around with the mercury rising. Both of us have travelled extensively during the campaign," said Vijaylaxmi. Their day starts around 10 am and they return in the evening.
AU is playing the sympathy card by telling voters that he sacrificed the Rajya Sabha membership to serve people of Balangir. "People have faith in me and expect a lot from the BJD government. They have had only good experiences during the last 14 years of BJD rule," he said. His son Arkesh is looking after his political affairs.
Septuagenarian Narasingh Mishra, Congress candidate for Balangir seat, is pitted against Singhdeo senior. For him, the day starts at 8am. After a few meetings at Balangir town, he moves to rural areas under the constituency. He said ever since he hit the campaign trail, he couldn't sleep before 1 am.
"Every day, I have to walk about 10 to 12 km. I take lunch wherever the workers arrange it," said Mishra. He said he patiently listened to the voters during the campaign. "I let people be vocal about their problems," he said, adding people's support towards him is spontaneous.