Jual Oram confirms Dilip Ray’s entry into poll race as BJP candidate from Rourkela

Bhubaneswar: Putting an end to speculation about entry of Dilip Ray into the electoral fry, senior BJP leader Jual Oram on Tuesday said that the party has finalised his candidature from Rourkela Assembly seat.

While campaigning at Talasara Assembly constituency, Jual said that the saffron party will announce candidate for Rourkela seat anytime soon. “Ray has got the green light from Delhi High Court to contest the upcoming elections. His candidature from Rourkela has been finalised and will be announced once he is formally inducted into the party fold,” said the BJP MP candidate from Sundargarh.

Ray will arrive in Rourkela on Wednesday and jump into campaign mode straight away, he added.

The Delhi High Court’s stay on his conviction in a coal scam case had earlier fuelled discussions in different circles about the former Rourkela legislator reviving his political career. Seventy-year-old Ray has been in political hibernation since 2018 when he quit BJP. In 2020, he was convicted in a coal block allocation case pertaining to his tenure as Union Minister of State for Coal in 1999.

Ray vying for the Rourkela seat will raise the stakes in the high-voltage fight between ex-Union Minister Jual and hockey star Dilip Tirkey for the Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat. A three-time MLA and two-time Rajya Sabha member, he is believed to have influence over the parliamentary constituency. Being a businessman, he also has the wherewithal to gives tough time to the ruling BJD, of which he was a founder member till he fell out with Naveen Patnaik and was expelled from the regional outfit.

Ray had last won the Rourkela seat in 2014 by defeating Sarada Prasad Nayak by 10,929 votes.