Denied Ticket, Kandhamal MP Hints At Joining Other Party

Bhubaneswar: Expressing displeasure over denial of a party ticket, sitting BJD MP from Kandhamal, Pratyusha Rajeswar Singhi, on Tuesday said she will soon decide on whether to join another party or contest the polls as an Independent candidate.

Talking to mediapersons over the phone, she said she has met party chief Naveen Patnaik and expressed her desire to contest as a party candidate from the Nayagarh Assembly seat. “My aim is to work for the people of Nayagarh and the time has come, Pratyusha said. “I have told the party chief about my willingness. If I don’t get a chance to contest from Nayagarh, I may think of joining another party or contesting the polls as an Independent.”

The Chief Minister had named Achyut Samant as the party’s MP candidate from Kandhamal.

Though the three-time BJD MLA from Nayagarh, Arun Kumar Sahoo, is trying hard to hold on to his fort in 2019, Pratyusha, the successor of erstwhile Nayagarh rulers, is going all out to make a comeback from her late husband Hemendra Singh’s bastion.