Odisha MLA Soumya finally makes up his mind, to contest from Ghasipura as Independent candidate

BHUBANESWAR: Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik on Friday said he will fight the Assembly election from Ghasipura as an Independent candidate.

While many wondered why Soumya did not join BJP, he announced his next move after a public meeting in Ghasipura, one of the Assembly constituencies of Keonjhar district. “I took the decision to contest from Ghasipura following requests from people of the constituency,” Soumya said.

He had hinted on April 30 of getting an offer from the BJP to contest from the seat. Soumya had previously shared with media that several people pressured him to contest the election. However, the BJP on Thursday nominated Shambhunath Rout from the seat. Senior BJP leader and three-time MP from Balasore Kharabela Swain also announced to contest from the parliamentary constituency as an Independent after his request for nomination from the seat was turned down by the party.

Asserting he will win as the official candidate of BJP is quite unpopular in the constituency, Swain said he is confident that the party will take him under its fold after the elections.

Earlier, Swain had suggested the party to field him from Balasore Lok Sabha seat and nominate sitting MP Pratap Sarangi from Nilagiri. The former MP took the decision to fight as an Independent after the BJP named Santosh Khatua from Nilagiri seat.

Khatua contested the 2019 election from Nilagiri on a BJD ticket and came second after losing to Sukanta Nayak of BJP. Nayak quit the BJP to join BJD and got nomination from the regional party.

Similarly, four-time Bari MLA and former minister Debasis Nayak who joined BJP recently with the hope to get nomination from the saffron party also announced to contest the upcoming Assembly polls from the constituency as an Independent candidate. Nayak announced his decision on social media after the BJP fielded Umesh Jena as its candidate for Bari.

Former BJD MLA from Khandapada Anubhav Patnaik filed his nomination papers as Independent on Friday after the party denied him a ticket.