I will contest Balasore LS seat as Independent: Kharabela

Bhubaneswar: The BJP leader, M A Kharabela Swain, on Monday announced that he will fight the Lok Sabha elections from Balasore seat as an Independent candidate. He made the announcement a day after the BJP re-nominated its incumbent MP in the seat, Pratap Sarangi, a former Union minister.

‘’I will contest from Balasore Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming election as an Independent candidate. I will campaign in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Let the people decide who is the real BJP,’’ Swain told a press conference. He said he wouldn’t quit the BJP, but the party can take action against him. ‘’I will join the BJP after winning the elections,’’ he added, exuding confidence. Swain, a former MP, alleged that a ‘’group of conspirators’’ within the BJP were responsible for the denial of ticket to him.

He represented the Balasore seat from 1998 to 2009. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he contested from Kandhamal but was defeated by BJD’s Achyuta Samanta.

Meanwhile, BJP’s Kalahandi MP Basant Kumar Panda, who was also dropped, said he was a party worker and would continue to remain so. ‘I welcome the decision of the party. Change is natural and we should respect it. I have performed the duties assigned to me by the party,’’ he said.

Bargarh MP Suresh Pujari and Mayurbhanj MP Bishweswar Tudu, who too were denied tickets by the BJP, refused to comment. Tudu is a Union minister.

The BJP on Sunday announced candidates for 18 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, dropping four sitting MPs.