Bhubaneswar: Transgender and social activist Meera Parida,38, Sunday joined the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and expressed her desire to contest from Begunia assembly constituency.
Accompanied by her supporters, Meera went to the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here and told reporters, “I was inspired by the Chief Minister’s leadership and I will support the people who work for the benefit of my community.’’
Meera told reporters that she has conveyed to the Chief Minister of her intention to contest from Begunia constituency in Khurda district, provided she was offered a ticket.
Hailing from Begunia block of Khurdha district, Meera has faced several hurdles in her life before joining politics. She left her home while she was studying in Standard VIII and did all kinds odd jobs to eke out a living.
Meera is the chairman of All-Odisha Third Gender Welfare Trust and has founded an NGO named Sakha that works to protect the rights of the ‘other’ genders in Odisha. She was conferred the Transgender Leader award in 2016 by UNDP, NACO and HIV Alliance for her work in protecting the rights of marginalised groups who are vulnerable to HIV and AIDS in India.
Meanwhile, Kajal Nayak, 27, another person from the “other” gender has decided to contest the ensuing elections from Korei assembly constituency in Jajpur district.
Kajal, who has appeared her Matriculation examination this year, will be contesting as a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate. Talking to reporters here, Kajal said she has been associated with the people from Jajpur area for over a decade through her social works. “Impressed by my work, I was offered a party ticket by Krushna Chandra Sagaria (BSP Odisha chief) to contest from Korei Assembly constituency,” she claimed.
On being asked about her provocation to join active politics, Kajal said, “I joined politics because I want to serve and help people better than what I have been doing.”