Bhubaneswar: After being denied ticket by the party, sitting MP Kandhamal MP Pratyusha Rajeswari on Wednesday resigned from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
She has sent her resignation letter to party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Notably, BJD declared Achyuta Samanta as its candidate for Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat. Expressing anguish over the ticket distribution, Pratyusha on Tuesday said that she wanted to contest from Nayagarh Assembly constituency and hinted at contesting election as an independent candidate if denied ticket by the party.
Former Minister and a BJD heavyweight Arun Sahu is the sitting MLA from Nayagarh and is all set to be renominated from the constituency for the Assembly polls.
Pratyusha said she had done every possible development work in her constituency during her stint as MP. However, she quit the party. She is likely to join BJP.
In 2014, BJD candidate Hemendra Chandra Singh won with a sizable margin from Kandhamal but after his untimely death BJD fielded Singh’s wife Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh who retained the seat in a by-election.
