Bhubaneswar, August 20: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named Mamata Mohanta as its Rajya Sabha candidate from Odisha for the upcoming by-election to be held on September 3.
Mohanta, a prominent leader of Kudumi community, recently resigned from the Upper House and Naveen Patnaik-led BJD to join BJP. Her tenure will end in April 2026.
“I feel very happy today that I am going to Rajya Sabha once again. My aim is to work for the welfare of the people and to serve them, I am confident that I will be able to do this,” said Mohanta.
BJP central leadership re-nominated Mohanta to complete the remaining 20 months of her term thereby conveying the message that the seat was not vacated to make room for another senior leader while at the same time emphasise that Mohanta had resigned due to her dissatisfaction with the BJD.
