Bhubaneswar: Former Laxmipur MLA, Kailash Chandra Kulesika, has switched sides to BJP from BJD after being denied ticket for the upcoming polls in Odisha.
Kulesika contested as an independent candidate from Laxmipur Assembly seat in 2009 Vidhan Sabha elections. In 2014, he won the seat on Congress ticket but lost to BJD’s Prabhu Jani in 2019 by a slender margin of 229 votes.
The BJD’s Thursday decision to repeat the sitting MLA from the Laxmipur assembly constituency came as a blow for Kulesika as he had hoped to secure a nomination after joining the Conch party in 2021. “I joined the BJD after the party promised to give me the ticket for Laxmipur Assembly seat. People will give a befitting reply to BJD for betraying me,” said the former legislator after joining the BJP.
The BJD is yet to respond to his allegation.