Bhubaneswar: Actor-turned-politican Sidhant Mohapatra arrived at the Odisha Assembly, riding a bicycle, on Tuesday for the 3-day special session.
A cycling enthusiast, Sidhant said that he will try to pedal to the Assembly as far as possible. “I would suggest everyone to ride a bicycle to their workplace if it is within 5 km radius of their house. My house is hardly 1.5 km from here. We should practice what we preach for safeguarding the environment,” he told the media.
This is his first term as an MLA from BJP, having represented Berhampur twice as BJD MP earlier. Sidhant switched sides to the saffron party ahead of the 2024 elections and won from Digapahandi Assembly constituency by defeating BJD’s Biplab Patro by 16,847 votes. He was earlier spotted riding a bicycle to Naveen Niwas, the residence of BJD president Naveen Patnaik.
Balasore MP Paratap Sarangi also recently drew attention when he rode a bicycle to the polling booth to cast his vote during the final phase elections on June 1.
Notably, Biju Patnaik also used to go to Secretariat by cycle when he was the Chief Minister. In 1932 while studying in the erstwhile Ravenshaw College, he embarked upon an adventurous journey on a bicycle and cycled all the way from Cuttack to Peshawar in Pakistan, a distance of 4500 miles, with two of his friends Amar and Bhramarbar on a ‘Visit India Mission’.