Bhubaneswar: Former Laxmipur MLA, Kailash Chandra Kulesika, has switched allegiance from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after being denied a ticket for the upcoming polls. Kulesika’s decision comes after the BJD’s Thursday announcement to field the sitting MLA from the Laxmipur assembly constituency, dealing a blow to his aspirations.
Kulesika, who contested as an independent candidate in the 2009 Vidhan Sabha elections and secured victory on a Congress ticket in 2014, faced defeat by a narrow margin of 229 votes to BJD’s Prabhu Jani in 2019. His hopes of securing a nomination from the BJD were dashed despite joining the party in 2021. Expressing his disappointment, Kulesika stated, “I joined the BJD after the party promised to give me the ticket for Laxmipur Assembly seat. People will give a befitting reply to BJD for betraying me,” upon joining the BJP. The BJD is yet to respond to his allegations, setting the stage for heightened political tensions in the region as the election season unfolds.
