Laxmipur’s Ex-MLA Kailash Kulesika joins BJP After Denied Ticket by BJD

Bhubaneswar: Former Laxmipur MLA Kailash Kulesika joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday after he was denied a ticket by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) to contest in the elections.

He joined the BJP in the presence of BJP state president Manmohan Samal and actor-turned-politician Arindam Roy and other senior leaders of the party.

Upset over the denial of the ticket Kulesika claimed that the ruling BJD assured him to give Special Development Council (SDC) and Rs 1 crore after the elections, but the party did not keep its promise.

BJD has re-nominated sitting MLA Prabhu Jani from the Laxmipur assembly constituency. It irked Kulesika, who had joined the BJD in 2021 hoping to get a ticket.

In 2019, Kulesika contested from the Laxmipur constituency on a Congress ticket and lost to Jani by only 229 votes.