Bhubaneswar: Sitting Kandhamal Member of Parliament and former BJD leader, Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh joined the BJP at the residence of the party’s legislative leader KV Singh Deo here Saturday in presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP vice-president Baijayant Panda. She had been hoping to be nominated once more from the BJD and had visited Naveen Niwas a couple of times last week. However, once the BJD nominated its Rajya Sabha MP, Achyuta Samanta to contest from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha constituency, the move made by Pratyusha was on the cards.
It must be stated here that the BJP has already nominated Irani Roy for the Nayagarh assembly segment. Party sources stated that Pratyusha is interested in contesting from that same seat. However, with saffron party still not nominating anyone from the Kandhamal Lok Sabha, there is every possibility that as the sitting MP, she will be nominated once more.
Meanwhile immediately after joining the BJP, the new entrant stated that her target is to defeat the BJD candidate.
PNN